title: Hyperexpression of interleukin-7 is not necessary or sufficient for transformation of a pre-B lymphoid cell line.
abstract: Interleukin-7 (IL-7) is a potent stimulator of pre-B-lymphocyte proliferation. Pre-B cells transformed by a variety of oncogenes including those of the ABL protein tyrosine kinase family were screened for endogenous IL-7 mRNA expression by polymerase chain reaction and a sensitive bioassay for secreted IL-7. Some v-abl but none of the BCR/ABL, v-src, v-fms, v-myc, v-ras, or v-raf transformants analyzed contained elevated IL-7 transcripts. None of the cell lines secreted detectable bioactivity. We overexpressed IL-7 via a retroviral vector in an IL-7-dependent pre-B cell line to assess the potential for autocrine growth stimulation and malignant transformation. We achieved dramatic deregulation of IL-7 translational suppression by removing portions of the 5' flanking region. Levels of IL-7 expression much greater than those needed to establish factor-independent growth did not induce colony formation in agar by IL-7-expressing pre-B cell lines, and the majority of these lines were nontumorigenic in syngeneic mice. The same pre-B cell line transformed by v-abl displayed a highly malignant phenotype while containing dramatically lower IL-7 transcript levels. We conclude that endogenous IL-7 expression is not a necessary event in transformation of pre-B cells, nor is it sufficient to explain the malignant phenotype in v-abl-transformed cells. Up regulation of endogenous IL-7 expression in some transformed pre-B cells may be one of several synergistic events which can lead to malignant conversion.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology and Molecular Genetics, University of California-Los Angeles 90024-1570.
authors.forename: J C
authors.initials: JC
authors.lastname: Young
authors.forename: M L
authors.initials: ML
authors.lastname: Gishizky
authors.forename: O N
authors.initials: ON
authors.lastname: Witte
mesh_terms: D000011:Abelson murine leukemia virus / Q000235:genetics*; D000818:Animals; D001402:B-Lymphocytes / Q000166:cytology / Q000276:immunology; D001483:Base Sequence; D001854:Bone Marrow Cells; D002460:Cell Line; D002471:Cell Transformation, Neoplastic; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D015851:Interleukin-7 / Q000235:genetics* / Q000502:physiology; D051379:Mice; D008807:Mice, Inbred BALB C; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D015345:Oligonucleotide Probes; D014162:Transfection
chemical_list: D015851:Interleukin-7; D015345:Oligonucleotide Probes