An EBV membrane protein expressed in immortalized lymphocytes transforms established rodent cells.
Epstein-Barr virus expresses a cytoplasmic and plasma membrane protein (LMP) in latently infected growth transformed lymphocytes. The gene specifying LMP has now been expressed in NIH3T3 and Rat-1 cells. Expression of the gene in these cells resulted in altered cell morphology and some resistance to the growth inhibiting effect of medium containing low serum. In Rat-1 cells, LMP expression often led to loss of contact inhibition and anchorage-independent growth in soft agar. Rat-1 cells expressing LMP were uniformly tumorigenic in nude mice. Thus, LMP is a transforming gene which is likely to account for many aspects of EBV induced cell transformations. This is the first demonstration of a transforming gene in Epstein-Barr virus, a ubiquitous human pathogen associated with neoplasia.
D000818:Animals; D000956:Antigens, Viral / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D002455:Cell Division; D002460:Cell Line; D002472:Cell Transformation, Viral; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D005347:Fibroblasts / Q000648:ultrastructure; D004854:Herpesvirus 4, Human / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D008214:Lymphocytes / Q000032:analysis; D051379:Mice; D008819:Mice, Nude; D009368:Neoplasm Transplantation; D009374:Neoplasms, Experimental / Q000209:etiology; D051381:Rats; D014763:Viral Matrix Proteins
D000956:Antigens, Viral; C037662:EBV-associated membrane antigen, Epstein-Barr virus; D014763:Viral Matrix Proteins