The effect of macrofixation on derepressed sugar transport systems of chick embryo fibroblasts.
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Biomedical subjects
Publications and source records attributed to E R Phillips.
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The presence and localization of neoantigens induced in cultured cells, infected or transformed with avian tumor viruses (ATV), were studied ultrastructurally on carbon platinum replicas of cell surfaces. The use of antibody, labeled with hemocyanin molecules, provided sensitive detection and analysis of cell surface antigen distribution. The subgroup-specific antigens of the viral envelope were found in considerable amount in the plasma membranes of ATV-infected chick embryo fibroblasts. The distribution of these antigens over the cell surface, evaluated on cells which were prefixed with glutaraldehyde, was found to be diffuse with a greater density on the cell processes in some cells. Reaction of antibody to viral envelope antigens with living ATV-infected cells resulted in a number of patterns of redistribution of membrane antigen-antibody complexes (AAC). Redistribution occurred in symmetrical or asymmetrical modes. The former consisted of randomly oriented aggregates (patches) of AAC over the cell surface. The latter included: (a) linear accumulation of AAC at cell margins; and (b) condensation of compexes into one or more centers of coalescence. These observations could be made on chick embryo cells infected (but not transformed) by avian leukosis virus, or on cells oncogenically transformed by avian sarcoma virus. The regions of coalescence were suggestive of the "capping" phenomenon seen in other systems, and their formation was temporally correlated with endocytosis of labeled AAC and the gradual loss of AAC from the surface. The effects of several biologically perturbing substances on the processes of redistribution were investigated in ALV-infected fibroblasts. Sodium azide, puromycin, actinomycin D, and colchicine had no effect on either form of asymmetrical redistribution. Cytochalasin B (CB) and iodoacetic acid (IAA) appeared to have some effect on the marginal redistribution, and to completely prevent the condensation into foci of coalescence (FC). When treated with these compounds, reacted with antibody at low temperature, washed free of unbound antibody, and warmed at 37 degrees C, cells rapidly cleared their surfaces of AAC. This was not accompanied by formation of FC or endocytosis. In some of these cells, a distribution was observed which suggested a possible centrifugal flow of antigenic sites-perhaps an alternate route for disposal of AAC. None of the drugs tested affected symmetrical redistribution. Repeated attempts at detection and topographical analysis of a tumor-specific antigen on the surface of Rous sarcoma virus-transformed chicken and rat cells have provided no evidence for antibody to such an antigen in the serum of immunized animals. Autochthonous, homologous, and heterologous immunizations of chickens and rats did not produce a detectable antibody response to a virus-specific tumor surface antigen. Preliminary results, however, suggest the expression of an individual-specific (unique) tumor antigen on the surface of Rous sarcoma cells.
Avian tumour virus-infected chick embryo fibroblasts express new antigens, identical with the viral envelope antigens, in their plasma membranes. Electron-microscopic examination of carbon-platinum replicas of cells labelled with haemocyanin-marked antibody has shown the distribution of these antigens to be diffuse over the cell surface with an increased concentration on peripheral cell processes. However, antigen-antibody complexes (AAC), resulting from reaction with specific antibody, may be redistributed into a variety of patterns. Observation of the time course of antibody-induced antigen mobility revealed a rapid and a delayed phase of redistribution. During the rapid phase (10 min or less) some of the antigen-bearing cells reorganized AAC into patches, while the remainder maintained a diffuse distribution. A fraction of the cells with either diffuse or patchy distribution also redistributed AAC into a pattern of 'marginal redistribution (MR)', consisting of linear aggreagation of AAC, at the cell edge. During the 'late' phase of redistribution (after about 20 min), AAC began to condense into one or more foci of coalescence (FC) on each cell. As the number of cells with FC increased with time, the fraction of cells which were labelled decreased. Electron-microscopic observation of thin sections of ferritin-labelled specimens indicated that AAC were lost by endocytosis and that this process was probably related to FC formation. Inhibitors of oxidative phosphorylation, protein synthesis, RNA synthesis, or microtubule assembly had no significant effect on the patterns or the course of redistribution. Iodoacetic acid (IAA), which depletes cellular ATP, and cytochalasin B (CB), which is believed to depolymerize microfilaments, partially inhibited MR and completely prevented FC formation and endocytosis. Paradoxically, IAA or CB-treated cells lost AAC very rapidly by some alternate mechanism not involving FC formation but which may entail a centrifugal migration of complexes to the cell extremities during the process of AAC disposal.
The distribution of neoantigens in the surface membrane of avian tumor virus-infected chicken embryo fibroblasts was examined on carbon replicas of cell cultures using hemocyanin-labeled antibody. New determinants appearing on the cell surface of virally infected but not transformed cells are thought to be common with components of the viral envelope. These antigens were found to exist in a diffuse, random array on the dorsal cell surface, with a denser accumulation along the cell processes. In living cells, surface antigens are capable of several types of redistribution when activated by reaction with antibody. Leukosis virus-infected (non-transformed) cells showed two apparently independent modes of redistribution: a relocation of some antibody-related sites to the cell margin; or an involvement of essentially all sites in randomly dispersed aggregates. Viral antigenic sites on sarcoma virus-infected (transformed) cells, reacted with antibody, were able to produce weak marginal relocation; but revealed a more striking tendency to migrate to some central location. The centripetal coalescence thus formed resembles the "cap" noted in other systems. Prior aggregation into "patches" may not be a prerequisite for such cap formation. Tumor-specific surface antigen detection and mapping was attempted by this technique, but results were equivocal. An antigen possibly characteristic of rapidly dividing cells occurred in a sparse, diffuse fashion over the surface of morphologically distinct "round" cells.
Animals bearing either primary or transplantable tumors of avian sarcoma virus origin frequently mount cellular and humoral antitumor immune responses against both viral and nonviral antigenic determinants. This communication summarizes recent developments in this area, with special emphasis on the effector mechanisms of antitumor immunity in chickens. Among the topics considered are structural and antigenic aspects of avian leukosis and sarcoma viruses; virus-induced tumor-associated antigens; methods of in vivo and in vitro detection of tumor-associated antigens; and the relative importance of the bursal and thymic systems in avian antitumor immunity.