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J H Pierce

Publications and source records attributed to J H Pierce.

At least 145 records · Page 8Linked to original sources

Production of granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor by primary cultures of unstimulated rat microvascular endothelial cells.

Small vessel (microvascular) endothelial cells are in close contact with hematopoietic progenitor cells in the bone marrow and therefore may have an important role in hematopoiesis. Although other studies have shown that endothelial cells produce various colony-stimulating factors (CSFs), these studies examined large vessel endothelial cells, which are different in many respects from microvascular endothelial cells and which do not contact cells in the bone marrow. We show in this study that primary cultures of unstimulated rat fat capillary endothelial cells grown in serum-free medium produce a substantial amount of granulocyte-macrophage CSF (GM-CSF). The medium conditioned by these cells stimulated proliferation of two different lines of GM-CSF-responsive cells--PT-18 mast cells and FDC-P1 cells--and supported the growth of cells of the granulocyte and macrophage lines in cultures of rat bone marrow cells. The factor responsible for this activity had physical properties consistent with those of GM-CSF, namely, a similar apparent mol wt by gel filtration, resistance to repeated freeze-thaws, resistance to boiling for ten minutes but not for 30 minutes, and resistance to heating to 56 degrees C for one hour. The factor causing target cell stimulation was not B cell-stimulating factor-1 (BSF-1, or IL 4), since it failed to stimulate a BSF-1-responsive cell line HT2-JH, and target cells (PT-18) did not respond appreciably to recombinant BSF-1. Northern blot analysis of mRNA from rat fat capillary endothelial cells showed high levels of expression of GM-CSF, confirming that this factor is produced by microvascular endothelial cells. This is the first report of CSF production by unstimulated microvascular endothelial cells, demonstrating that these ubiquitous cells are capable of producing sizable amounts of at least one growth factor for hematopoietic progenitor cells.

Animals↗

Overexpression of the human EGF receptor confers an EGF-dependent transformed phenotype to NIH 3T3 cells.

The epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) gene is frequently amplified and/or overexpressed in human malignancies. To investigate the biological effects of its overexpression, we constructed a eukaryotic vector containing human EGFR cDNA. Introduction of this construct led to reconstitution of functional EGF receptors in NR6 mutant cells, which are normally devoid of this receptor. Transfection of NIH 3T3 resulted in no significant alterations in growth properties. However, EGF addition led to the formation of densely growing transformed foci in liquid culture and colonies in semisolid medium. NIH 3T3-EGFR clonal lines, which expressed the EGF at 500- to 1000-fold levels over control NIH 3T3 cells, demonstrated a marked increase in DNA synthesis in response to EGF. Thus EGF receptor overexpression appears to amplify normal EGF signal transduction. Finally, high levels of EGFR expression, which conferred a transformed phenotype to NIH 3T3 cells in the presence of ligand, were demonstrated in representative human tumor cell lines that contained amplified copies of the EGFR gene.

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B cell stimulatory factor-1/interleukin-4 mRNA is expressed by normal and transformed mast cells.

BSF-1/interleukin-4, a product of activated T cells, has multiple biological activities that affect cells of most hematopoietic lineages. Among these is the ability of BSF-1 to costimulate the growth of mast cells and regulate the production of IgE. We demonstrate here that BSF-1 mRNA is expressed by a majority of transformed mast cell lines and by 5 IL-3-dependent non-transformed mast cell lines. BSF-1 activity, including the ability to enhance the growth of IL-3-dependent mast cells, was detected in the supernatants of transformed mast cells. The role of BSF-1 as a mast cell growth factor, its constitutive production by transformed mast cells, and the lack of IL-3 production by most of these cells raise the possibility that BSF-1 may act as an autocrine growth factor for some transformed mast cells. Furthermore, production of BSF-1 mRNA by nontransformed cells indicates that mast cells may be an important physiologic source of this factor.

Abelson murine leukemia virus↗

erbB-2 is a potent oncogene when overexpressed in NIH/3T3 cells.

A wide variety of human tumors contain an amplified or overexpressed erbB-2 gene, which encodes a growth factor receptor-like protein. When erbB-2 complementary DNA was expressed in NIH/3T3 cells under the control of the SV40 promoter, the gene lacked transforming activity despite expression of detectable levels of the erbB-2 protein. A further five- to tenfold increase in its expression under influence of the long terminal repeat of Moloney murine leukemia virus was associated with activation of erbB-2 as a potent oncogene. The high levels of the erbB-2 product associated with malignant transformation of NIH/3T3 cells were observed in human mammary tumor cells that overexpressed this gene. These findings demonstrate a new mechanism for acquisition of oncogenic properties by genes encoding growth factor receptor-like proteins and provide a functional basis for the role of their overexpression in the development of human malignancies.

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Expression of the 6C3 antigen on murine hematopoietic neoplasms. Association with expression of abl, ras, fes, src, erbB, and Cas NS-1 oncogenes but not with myc.

The monoclonal antibody 6C3 was used to test a wide variety of murine hematopoietic neoplasms for cell surface expression of a 160 kD glycoprotein (gp160(6C3)) previously shown to be expressed by neoplastic pre-B and some B lymphocytes transformed by Abelson murine leukemia virus (A-MuLV). This antigen was expressed on many pre-B and B cell lymphomas, but not on A-MuLV-transformed fibroblasts, T cell lymphomas, or myelomonocytic leukemias, gp160(6C3) was expressed by most early B-lineage spontaneous tumors, and early B tumors induced by replication-defective MuLV-containing oncogenes the products of which are associated with the cytoplasmic aspect of the plasma membrane, i.e., fes, abl, H-ras, bas, src, erbB, and Cas NS-1. By comparison, none of the early B lineage lymphomas induced by the "nuclear" oncogene avian v-myc MuLV, or arising in mice transgenic for a murine c-myc gene, or later B cell lineage stages bearing translocations of the c-myc locus expressed this antigen.

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Friend virus-infected long-term bone marrow cultures produce colony stimulating factor dependent and independent granulocyte-macrophage progenitor cells for over four years in vitro.

C3H/HeJ mouse long-term bone marrow cultures infected at initiation with a cloned polycythemic strain of Friend spleen focus forming virus in a cloned N-tropic murine leukemia virus helper virus coat, persistently produced: colony-forming unit spleen (CFUs) for 55 weeks that formed macroscopic spleen colonies in syngeneic or allogeneic C57B10.Br/J mice; and L-cell or WEHI-3 cell conditioned medium-dependent granulocyte-macrophage colony forming unit culture (GM-CFUc); and morphologically normal granulocytes for over 245 weeks. Colony stimulating factor (CSF)-independent colony forming progenitor cells were first detectably produced in vitro at 75 weeks, and when subcultured generated karyotypically distinct permanent factor-independent tumorigenic cell lines. Nonadherent cells removed from long-term marrow cultures at 19 but not at 77 weeks reconstituted donor origin hematopoiesis in C57B10.Br/J mice as measured by B-cell lineage surface immunoglobin allotype. Nonadherent cells removed at 77 weeks produced lethal splenomegaly and marrow infiltration with culture origin cells in C57B10.Br/J mice. Despite generation of clonal malignant cell lines, L-cell DSF (CSF-1, M-CSF) responsive GM-CFUc that were simultaneously produced over 4 years in the same long-term marrow cultures, grew to 7 day colonies in semisolid medium and terminally differentiated. Thus, adherent stromal cells in Friend virus-infected long-term bone marrow cultures simultaneously support CSF-responsive and malignant CSF-independent hematopoietic progenitor cells.

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Continuing rearrangement of immunoglobulin and T-cell receptor genes in a Ha-ras-transformed lymphoid progenitor cell line.

The arrangement of immunoglobulin genes has been examined in a series of lymphoid cell lines transformed with the Harvey murine sarcoma virus. One cell line, HAFTL-1, expresses antigenic markers characteristic of B-lymphoid cells and undergoes frequent rearrangement at the JH locus (where J = joining and H = heavy chain) during propagation in culture. By molecular cloning and nucleotide sequence determination, these rearrangements were found to represent the earliest postulated step in heavy chain gene assembly: the joining of a diversity (D) segment to a JH segment. The HAFTL-1 cell line also undergoes infrequent D beta-to-J beta joining at the T-cell receptor beta locus in culture. The observations presented here suggest that the HAFTL-1 cell line represents the early stage of B-cell differentiation at which immunoglobulin gene rearrangement is initiated.

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Murine hematopoietic cells with pre-B or pre-B/myeloid characteristics are generated by in vitro transformation with retroviruses containing fes, ras, abl, and src oncogenes.

In vitro infection of bone marrow or fetal liver cells with retroviruses containing fes, abl, ras, or src oncogenes resulted in the transformation of early B lineage cells. All cell lines tested possessed rearrangements at the Ig heavy chain locus and some had rearrangements at the K chain locus. The majority of the lines corresponded phenotypically to Lyb-2+, Ly-5(B220)+, ThB- large pre-B cells, although some were classified as pro-B cells because of their Lyb-2+, Ly-17+, Ly-5(B220)- phenotype. We identified two cell lines that contained subpopulations of cells that coexpressed the B lineage antigens Lyb-2 and Ly-5(B220) and the myeloid lineage antigen Mac-1. Single-cell FMF cloning of these subpopulations showed that Mac-1+ cells were derived from Mac-1- cells and that these Mac-1+-cloned cells further differentiated into cells with phenotypic and functional characteristics of mature macrophages.

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Mammalian cell transformation by a murine retrovirus vector containing the avian erythroblastosis virus erbB gene.

A recombinant murine retrovirus vector containing the v-erbB gene of avian erythroblastosis virus was constructed to investigate v-erbB as a transforming gene for mammalian cells. A restriction fragment containing the v-erbB sequences from a molecular clone of avian erythroblastosis virus was inserted into a Moloney murine leukemia virus vector. The construct, designated MuLV/erbB, transformed NIH 3T3 cells at a high efficiency in the DNA transfection assay. Individual MuLV/erbB transfectants grew in soft agar and were tumorigenic. The transfectants contained v-erbB DNA sequences, expressed v-erbB-specific transcripts, and synthesized v-erbB-related glycoproteins. The majority of transfectants produced two major v-erbB gene products of 58 and 66 kilodaltons. However, some transfectants produced much smaller v-erbB-specific proteins. Tunicamycin experiments revealed that the size heterogeneity observed between different transfectants was not due to variations in glycoprotein processing, implying that, in some cases, alterations in the MuLV/erbB genome occurred during the transfection process. These findings indicate that expression of the complete v-erbB gene product is not required for transformation of NIH 3T3 cells. A transmissible murine v-erbB (M-erbB) virus was generated by infection of nonproducer transfectants with amphotrophic murine leukemia virus. Transmission of the rescued M-erbB virus was confirmed by DNA, RNA, and protein analyses. The introduction of a transforming v-erbB gene into mammalian cells by virus infection provides a means of analyzing the mechanism by which this epidermal growth factor receptor-related gene alters the growth and differentiation of cells from various lineages.

Alpharetrovirus↗

Induction of malignant transformation of cocultivated hematopoietic stem cells by X-irradiation of murine bone marrow stromal cells in vitro.

X-irradiation of purified primary cultures of mouse bone marrow stroma or permanent cloned marrow stromal cell lines in plateau phase decreases production of macrophage progenitor cell-specific colony-stimulating factor to a plateau minimum of 40% of control levels after doses of 50 to 500 Gy delivered at 2 Gy/min. After 50 Gy there is increased bioavailability of another growth factor(s) that is distinct from macrophage progenitor cell-specific colony-stimulating factor, granulocyte-macrophage progenitor cell colony-stimulating factor, or colony-stimulating factor for multipotential hematopoietic stem cells (interleukin 3). Liquid-phase cocultivation of irradiated stromal cells with either nonadherent cells from continuous marrow cultures or cloned dual granulocyte-macrophage progenitor cell colony-stimulating factor/interleukin 3-dependent hematopoietic progenitor cell lines induces evolution over 5 weeks of factor-independent colony-forming cells. Subcultured factor-independent colonies generated clonal malignant cell lines with multiple distinct karyotypic alterations. Inoculation of 10(6) cells s.c. from factor-independent clones into syngeneic mice produces local granulocytic monomyeloid tumors with spread to spleen, lymph nodes, and bone marrow. These data provide the first demonstration in vitro of indirect X-irradiation leukemogenesis through cells of the marrow stroma.

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The v-sis/PDGF-2 transforming gene product localizes to cell membranes but is not a secretory protein.

The v-sis transforming gene encodes the woolly monkey homologue of human platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF) polypeptide 2. After its synthesis on membrane bound polyribosomes, the glycosylated precursor dimerizes in the endoplasmic reticulum and travels through the Golgi apparatus. At the cell periphery, the precursor is processed to yield a dimer structurally analogous to biologically active PDGF. Small amounts of two incompletely processed forms are detectable in tissue culture fluids of simian sarcoma virus (SSV) transformants. However, the vast majority remains cell associated. Thus, this growth factor-related transforming gene product is not a classical secretory protein. These findings define possible cellular locations where the transforming activity of the sis-PDGF-2 protein may be exerted.

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Neoplastic transformation of mast cells by Abelson-MuLV: abrogation of IL-3 dependence by a nonautocrine mechanism.

Normal mast cells can be propagated in culture when medium is supplemented with interleukin-3 (IL-3). We demonstrate that Abelson-MuLV (Ab-MuLV) infection of mast cells eliminates dependence on IL-3 for growth. By contrast, Harvey, BALB, and Moloney MSV, which also productively infect mast cells, are unable to relieve IL-3 dependence. Ab-MuLV-induced IL-3-independent lines express the v-abl-specific transforming protein and have phenotypic characteristics of mast cells. These cells also possess high cloning efficiencies in soft agarose and are tumorigenic in nude mice. In addition, Ab-MuLV induces transplantable mastocytomas in pristane-primed adult mice resistant to lymphoid transformation, defining a new hematopoietic target for malignant transformation by this virus. None of the Ab-MuLV-derived transformants express or secrete detectable levels of IL-3 nor is their growth inhibited by anti-IL-3 serum. These results argue that Ab-MuLV abrogation of the IL-3 requirement is not due to an autocrine mechanism.

Abelson murine leukemia virus↗

Myeloid cell transformation by ras-containing murine sarcoma viruses.

BALB and Harvey murine sarcoma viruses contain ras transforming genes capable of altering the proliferation and differentiation of cells within the erythroid and lymphoid lineages (W. D. Hankins and E. M. Scolnick, Cell 26:91-97, 1981; J. H. Pierce and S. A. Aaronson, J. Exp. Med. 156:873-887, 1982; E. M. Scolnick et al., Mol. Cell. Biol. 1:68-74). The present studies demonstrate hematopoietic targets of ras-containing viruses within the myeloid lineage. Diffuse colonies were induced by BALB or Harvey marine sarcoma virus infection of murine bone marrow cells. Generally, these colonies were made up of relatively mature macrophages which exhibited increased self-renewal capacity but eventually underwent terminal differentiation in culture. Cells from one BALB murine sarcoma virus-induced colony displayed phenotypic markers of more immature myelomonocytic cells. This colony, designated BAMC1, readily established as a continuous cell line and was highly malignant in vivo. Exposure of these cells to 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate led to the induction of a more mature myeloid phenotype, which was associated with decreased growth potential in vitro and in vivo. The effects of the inducing agent were not mediated by an alteration in the level of expression of the ras-coded p21 transforming protein. Our present findings extend the spectrum of targets whose growth is altered by ras-containing retroviruses to cells at several stages of differentiation within each of the major hematopoietic lineages.

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Amphotropic retrovirus vector transfer of the v-ras oncogene to human hematopoietic and stromal cells in continuous bone marrow cultures.

Human continuous bone marrow cultures were established from intraoperative marrow specimens and infected with amphotropic murine leukemia virus (Am-MuLV) pseudotypes of Kirsten or Harvey murine sarcoma virus, and the biologic effects were compared with mouse continuous bone marrow cultures. Cultures were tested for production of total nonadherent granulocytes and granulocyte-macrophage progenitor cells (GM-CFUc); virus replication by supernatant reverse transcriptase activity; percentage of adherent and nonadherent cells and GM-CFUc that released virus by infectious center assay; and for synthesis of Harvey ras p21 protein. High-efficiency, stable Am-MuLV infection of over 90% of human marrow-culture nonadherent and adherent cells and both seven- and 14-day GM-CFUc were detected as Kirsten or Harvey pseudotype virus release by infectious center assay. Synthesis of Harvey ras p21 was detected in the adherent and nonadherent cell populations of human as well as mouse continuous marrow cultures infected with Kirsten or Harvey pseudotype virus. In contrast to data with mouse cultures, cumulative production of GM-CFUc and differentiated granulocytes in human cultures was not detectably altered by Harvey or Kirsten virus infection, and all cultures ceased to produce hematopoietic cells by 20 weeks. Of 54 virus-infected cultures in ten separate experiments, 13 produced a second peak of nonadherent cells (greater than 10(5) per flask) after 20 weeks, significantly more frequently than did control uninfected cultures (one of 32). When subcultured, these harvests produced permanent Epstein-Barr virus (EBV)-transformed pre-B cell lines that released the original inoculating pseudotype virus. Thus, Am-MuLV is a potentially valuable vector for inserting genetic sequences by recombinant techniques into human hematopoietic and stromal cells in culture; however, activation of EBV may be a significant complication.

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Biologic effects of prolonged melphalan treatment of murine long-term bone marrow cultures and interleukin 3-dependent hematopoietic progenitor cell lines.

The mechanism of alkylating agent-induced leukemia is unknown. For the determination of whether chronic alkylating agent treatment of hematopoietic stem cells in vitro was detectably leukemogenic, murine long-term bone marrow cultures (LTBMC) and clonal interleukin 3 (IL-3)-dependent multipotential hematopoietic progenitor cell lines [B6SUtA clone (cl) 27 and Ro cl 3-1] derived from LTBMC were chronically pulse treated in vitro with the alkylating agent melphalan [L-phenylalanine mustard (L-PAM)]. Weekly treatment of C3H/HeJ or CD-1 Swiss mouse LTBMC with 3 X 10(-6)M L-PAM significantly decreased cumulative production of nonadherent granulocytes and granulocyte-macrophage progenitor cells responsive to L-cell or WEH1-3 cell colony-stimulating factor compared to the production seen in untreated control cultures; it also significantly reduced the hematopoietic longevity (13 wk compared to greater than 20 wk for untreated control cultures). Weekly, twice weekly, or daily (3 X 10(-6)M) L-PAM treatment of IL-3-dependent cell lines induced gradual L-PAM adaptation in the absence of a detectable change in the maximum binding capacity of 125I-labeled IL-3. No leukemogenic variants of line B6SUtA cl 27 were detectably induced. However, 3 stably expressed marker chromosomes were induced after 12 months of L-PAM treatment of line B6SUtA cl 27. Thus IL-3-dependent hematopoietic progenitor cells slowly adapt to L-PAM when in suspension culture in vitro. Physiologic expression of drug toxicity in LTBMC may prevent this hematopoietic cell gradual adaptation.

Animals↗