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© 1996 Oxford University Press 2528-2534

Footnote

MoMuLV proviral integrations identified by Sup-F selection in tumours from infected myc / pim bitransgenic mice correlate with activation of the gfi-1 gene

MoMuLV proviral integrations identified by Sup-F selection in tumours from infected myc / pim bitransgenic mice correlate with activation of the gfi-1 gene Thorsten Schmidt , Martin Zörnig + , Ralph Beneke and Tarik Möröy*

Institut für Zellbiologie (Tumorforschung), IFZ, Universitätsklinikum Essen, Virchowstrasse 173, D-45122 Essen , Germany

Received March 25, 1996; Revised and Accepted May 24, 1996

ABSTRACT

Infecting mice with a mutant Moloney murine leukemia virus which contains the bacterial suppressor tRNA supF in its LTR allows rapid cloning of proviral integration sites from genomic tumour DNA. In a previous study E [mu] pim-1 /E [mu] L-myc bitransgenic mice had been inoculated neonatally with MoMuLV supF virus. The retroviral infection led to acceleration of lymphomagenesis indicating the proviral activation of further oncogenes cooperating with myc and pim-1 in tumour development. Using a functional supF screen for analysis of genomic mouse tumour DNA libraries which had been constructed in the phage vector EMBL3A, a common proviral integration site on mouse chromosome 5 was cloned and found to be identical to the proviral integration site evi-5 which has recently been identified in an AKXD T-cell lymphoma and which is located 18 kb upstream of the gfi-1 gene. Tumours bearing evi-5 integrations showed an enhanced gfi-1 expression level suggesting that gfi-1 is the target gene for insertions at the evi-5 locus. Together with three other previously described Moloney integration clusters all responsible for enhanced gfi-1 expression the number of tumours from infected double transgenic E [mu] L- myc /E [mu] pim-1 transgenic mice with retrovirally activated gfi-1 added up to 53% underscoring the role of GFI-1 as an effective collaborator for MYC and PIM-1 in the process of lymphomagenesis.

INTRODUCTION

Infection of mice with the non-acute transforming retrovirus Moloney murine leukemia virus (MoMuLV) has become an established method to search for new genes implicated in the process of lymphomagenesis ( 1 , 2 ; for review see 3 ). Genomic DNA from the tumours that arise upon infection is analysed for proviral integrations, and genes that are located in the vicinity of viral sequences can be identified. Several mechanisms lead to the activation of genes that are hit by proviral integrations: by promoter and enhancer insertions, the expression of the host target gene becomes elevated by the retroviral transcription control elements residing within the LTR sequences. Alternatively, the proviral integration could either remove RNA destabilising elements ( 3 ) or it could lead to a differently spliced gene products with new properties ( 4 ). Proviral integration sites can be isolated either by inverse PCR reaction or by screening a genomic DNA library constructed from DNA of infected tissue or cells with a virus specific probe. With this method, phage clones containing genomic mouse sequence in their inserts that flank the proviral DNA can be isolated ( 2 ).

Transgenic mice expressing activated oncogenes under cell type specific promoter and enhancer elements have been proven to be valuable tools to investigate oncogene cooperation in vivo ( 5 - 7 ). A well studied system have been E[mu] c-myc transgenic mice where the c-myc gene is linked to an immunoglobulin heavy chain enhancer ( 8 , 9 ). Here, the lymphocyte specific expression of the transgene leads to development of pre-B or B-cell lymphoma ( 8 , 10 ). To search for oncogenes that cooperate with c-myc , a retroviral infection of newborn E[mu] c-myc transgenic mice had been performed and led to identification of the cytoplasmic serine/threonine kinase PIM-1 and the zinc finger protein BMI-1 as strong collaborators of c-MYC in the development of B-cell lymphoma ( 1 , 2 ). Another retroviral integration site, pal-1, that was hit in a large proportion of tumours ( 2 , 11 ), was identified in this experiment. Subsequent studies showed that proviral activation within the pal-1 locus lead to the activation of a gene termed gfi-1 (for growth factor independence 1) located several kb downstream of pal-1 ( 11 , 12 ). The gfi-1 gene had previously been identified in a search for genes that confer T-cells the independence of IL-2 ( 13 ). The efficient collaboration between myc and the pim-1 gene was not only evident in MoMuLV infection experiments but could also be shown by creating various E[mu] myc/pim-1 double transgenic mice which show a dramatic acceleration in lymphomagenesis compared to the single transgenic parent strains ( 14 , 15 ).

The analysis of tumours arising in E[mu] myc/pim-1 bitransgenic mice also showed that all malignancies were still of clonal or oligoclonal origin. This indicated that additional events were required for full malignant transformation even in the presence of two activated trans -oncogenes. To search for these additional cooperating oncogenes that synergize in the process of lymphomagenesis with both myc and pim-1 , a MoMuLV infection of E[mu] L- myc/pim-1 bitransgenic mice was carried out. The infection resulted in a profound acceleration of tumour formation in these animals and the analysis of the emerging tumours showed that in 37% of the cases the pal-1/gfi-1 locus was affected by retroviral integration resulting in high level expression of the gfi-1 gene ( 12 ). This finding underscored the potential of the gfi-1 gene to efficiently cooperate with both myc and pim-1 genes.

In the infection experiment with E[mu] pim-1 /E[mu] L-myc bitransgenic animals a replication competent mutant MoMuLV virus strain was used which contains a 200 bp supF suppressor tRNA in its LTR sequence ( 16 ). In this paper we present the identification of proviral integration sites from tumours that arose in infected bitransgenic mice by taking advantage of a supF selection procedure. To this end, we used the EMBL3A phage cloning vector to construct genomic DNA libraries from DNA isolated from tumours of infected animals. The EMBL3A vector contains two amber stop codons in genes essential for its replication ( 17 ) so that plating the libraries on the supF - bacteria strain MC1061 allowed exclusive isolation of phage clones with retroviral supF and flanking mouse sequences in their inserts. Using this functional supF screen we could clone and analyse a common integration site which was tentatively named tmi-1 (for T-cell Moloney integration site 1) and which was affected by proviral insertions in 22% of the tumours in the Moloney infected E[mu] pim-1 /E[mu] L-myc bitransgenic mice. Detailed analysis revealed that tmi-1 is identical to the recently discovered Moloney integration site evi-5 on mouse chromosome 5 ( 18 ) and probably activates the expression of the gfi-1 gene located ~18 kb downstream of evi-5.

MATERIALS AND METHODS

Transgenic mice and MoMuLV infection

Transgenic E[mu] pim-1 and E[mu] L-myc animals and the generation of doubly transgenic animals have already been described ( 14 , 25 ). Mice originating from breedings between E[mu] pim-1 and E[mu] L-myc parents were infected until 48 h after birth intraperitoneally with 50-100 [mu]l sterile MoMuLV supF containing supernatant from the producer cell line MoMuLV sup -1 ( 16 ). The supernatant of subconfluently growing virus producing cells was concentrated 100-fold under N 2 pressure in a stirring cell (Amicon) to obtain a virus titre of 10 4 -10 5 p.f.u./ml. Virus containing supernatants were titrated by seeding 1 * 10 5 XC cells per well into a 24-well plate. The wells were inoculated with serial dilutions of virus containing cell culture supernatant and the titre was determined from the number of syncitia 24 h later ( 26 ). XC cells were maintained in DMEM with 10% FCS and antibiotics.

Library construction and supF screening

Genomic tumour DNA (100-500 [mu]g) was partially cleaved with Sau 3A and enriched for fragments of 10-20 kb by a 10-40% sucrose gradient. The size-selected inserts were ligated to the Bam HI cleaved vector arms of the lambda replacement vector EMBL3A. For preparation of the phage arm 100 [mu]g EMBL3A DNA were cleaved to completion with Bam HI and Eco RI. The original insert and the `stuffer' polylinker fragment were separated from the cloning phage arms by a 10-40% sucrose gradient. The ligation reaction was packaged by using a lambda in vitro packaging kit from Amersham. An aliquot of the packaging reaction was plated on the supF + bacterial strain LE392 to determine the titre of the library. Phage particles (10 6 ) were then plated with the supF - bacterial strain MC1061 which only allowed propagation of phage clones containing retroviral supF sequence in their insert. To molecularly clone the unrearranged genomic DNA at the tmi-1/evi-5 locus a genomic mouse library (Stratagene, liver, agouti, [lambda] FixII vector) was screened for overlapping clones.

Bacterial strains

For library construction and supF screening the following bacterial strains were used: LE 392 supE 44 supF 58 hsdR 514 galK 2 galT 22 metB 1 trpR 55 lacY 1; MC1061 hsdR mcrB araD 139 [Delta] (araABC-leu) 7679 [Delta] lacX 74 galU galK rpsL thi.

Characterisation of tumours

Based on rearrangements of the T-cells receptor [beta] locus, the immunoglobulin heavy and light chain genes and on the presence of characteristic surface markers (B220, Thy 1.2, CD4, CD8) as determined by FACS analysis (Becton-Dickinson FACSCAN) the tumours were classified as either of the T- or the B-cell lineage. The probes used to detect distinct rearrangements of either the T-cell receptor gene locus or immunoglobulin genes in Southern blot analysis with genomic tumour DNA have already been described ( 27 ).

Molecular analysis and probes

Preparation of genomic DNA from mouse tail tips and tumour samples was performed as previously described ( 27 ). Cleavage of DNA by restriction enzymes and DNA blotting procedures were performed as described elsewhere ( 28 ). The supF probe was a 200 bp Bam HI- Bam HI fragment containing the complete sequence of the supF suppressor tRNA and had been kindly provided by Dr Stocking, Heinrich-Pette-Institut, Hamburg. The probes E2.1 and D22 that were used to detect proviral insertions within the tiam-1 locus were 1 kb Eco RI and Sal I genomic DNA fragments, respectively ( 4 ). The probe for GAPDH has already been described ( 25 ). To detect gfi-1 integrations a 2.0 kb gfi-1 mouse cDNA fragment was used which contained almost the complete coding sequence with only the first five amino acids missing. The evi-5 probe was a 1.4 kb mouse genomic fragment ( 18 ). As a bla-1 probe a genomic 1.9 kb Eco RI- Sal I fragment and as a pal-1 probe a genomic 1.3 kb Bgl II- Eco RI fragment from the respective locus were used ( 2 ). Preparation of RNA was as described ( 29 ) and Northern blotting was performed according to established procedures ( 28 ). For hybridisation of the evi-5 probe with poly(A) + RNA from different mouse organs a Northern blot membrane from Clontech (Multiple Tissue Northern Blot) was used.

Chromosome localisation by FISH hybridisation

Chromosomal localisation of the tmi-1 locus and the mouse cell lines used for FISH analysis was performed as described elsewhere ( 19 ).

RESULTS

Cloning of MoMuLV supF proviral integration sites from genomic tumour DNA using a functional supF screen

To identify novel oncogenes cooperating with myc and pim-1 in the process of lymphomagenesis we infected E[mu] pim-1/ E[mu] L-myc double transgenic mice with a mutant replication competent Moloney murine leukemia virus carrying the bacterial suppressor tRNA supF in the proviral LTR sequence (Fig. 1 ; 12 , 16 ). The infected bitransgenic animals succumbed to 100% with lymphoid malignancies after an average latency period of 66 days. This was significantly shorter compared to the onset of tumourigenesis in uninfected pim-1/L-myc transgenic control mice indicating the proviral activation of further oncogenes cooperating in the process of lymphomagenesis ( 12 , 14 ). For cloning and analysis of the retroviral integration sites we made use of the fact that the supF suppressor tRNA cloned into the LTR of the Moloney virus used in this infection experiment helps to override amber stop codons in the Aam32 and Bam1 genes of the lambda phage vector EMBL3A ( 17 ) thereby allowing its replication and propagation. By using a supF probe for hybridisation of Southern blots with genomic DNA from mouse tumours we confirmed that the integrated proviruses still contained the supF sequence and had not lost the suppressor tRNA due to recombination events (data not shown). The Southern blots also showed that each tumour carried in average four to five proviral integrations. We chose five tumours from MoMuLV supF infected E[mu] pim-1/ E[mu] L-myc double transgenic mice with no virus insertions in genes known to be frequent target sites for MoMuLV integrations (i.e. myc , pim-1 , pal-1 , bla-1 and bmi-1 ) to isolate DNA for the construction of genomic DNA libraries with the EMBL3A phage cloning vector. The titre of each library was evaluated by growth on the supF + bacterial strain LE392 which allows replication of all phage particles. Plating the libraries on the supF - bacterial strain MC1061 led to replication of only those phage particles which contained in their DNA inserts a MoMuLV supF LTR providing the essential suppressor tRNA for propagation. The numbers of phage clones obtained with MC1061 bacteria ( supF - ) are shown in Table 1 . The average size of the DNA inserts was in the range of between 12 and 17 kb so that a reasonable portion of mouse DNA flanking the retroviral integration site was isolated. All phage clones isolated by this screen contained retroviral LTR with its supF sequence in their inserts as could be confirmed by Southern blots using a supF specific probe (data not shown).


Figure 1 . Schematic map of the MoMuLV supF retrovirus used for the infection of E[mu] pim-1/ E[mu] L-myc bitransgenic mice in this experiment. In the U3 region of the MoMuLV LTR the 200 bp bacterial suppressor tRNA supF was inserted (16). A 1.5 kb internal viral Kpn I fragment containing the 3'-LTR supF sequence is indicated. The sizes of the LTRs and of the viral genes gag, pol and env are not to scale. ( Kpn I is an isoschizomer of Asp 718.)

Table 1 Number of phage clones after supF selection
Genomic phage library

Total no. of phage

Phage clones growing

from tumour no.

clones plated

on MC1061 ( supF - )

(Le392 supF + host)

20

1 * 10 6

3

33

1 * 10 6

34

84

1 * 10 6

9

128

1 * 10 6

10

154

1 * 10 6

12

Titre of EMBL3A phage libraries with genomic tumour DNA and number of phage clones with supF sequence in their inserts obtained from these libraries. To estimate the titre an aliquot of each library was plated on LE 392 bacteria which contain endogenous supF suppressor tRNA molecules. Phage particles of each library (1 * 10 6 ) were then plated on MC1061 bacteria which contain no endogenous supF so that only the indicated numbers of phage clones with supF sequences in their inserts could be isolated.

Identification of common proviral integration sites

To search for common integration sites which were affected by MoMuLV insertions in several tumours, Southern blot hybridisation of tumour DNA with probes obtained from the genomic mouse DNA sequences flanking the proviral insertion sites in the supF phage clones was performed. For this purpose, a restriction map of several phage clones was established. Figure 2 shows a partial restriction map of supF phage clone 25/33. The phage insert contained the complete proviral MoMuLV supF sequence an in addition 500 bp flanking sequences upstream and ~4 kb downstream of the 5'- and the 3'-LTR, respectively (Fig. 2 ). The 2.2 kb Pst I- Eco RI fragment downstream of the 3'-MoMuLV supF LTR was designated probe I (Fig. 2 ) and was used in Southern blot analysis with DNA from all tumours of the infected L-myc/pim-1 bitransgenic mice. Fourteen out of 63 tumours (22%) showed retroviral integrations at this locus. The insertions were detected by Southern blot hybridisation using three different restriction enzymes (Fig. 3 ). The membranes were then stripped off the probe and rehybridised with the 200 bp supF fragment confirming that all signals representing alleles occupied by proviral DNA also contained supF sequences (data not shown). We concluded that the genomic locus covered by the insert of phage clone 25/33 contains a common proviral integration site which was tentatively termed tmi-1 (for T-cell Moloney integration site 1).


Figure 2 . Restriction map of the insert of phage clone 25/33 from tumour 33. The insert contains a complete proviral MoMuLV supF genome plus 4 kb flanking genomic mouse DNA sequence, from this insert the 2.2 kb Pst I- Eco RI fragment was isolated as probe I. A, Asp718; S, Sal I; H, Hin dIII; P, Pst I; (S), Sal I site in the EMBL3A polylinker.


Figure 3 . Southern blot analysis of genomic tumour DNA from MoMuLV supF infected pim-1/L-myc bitransgenic mice. The 2.2 kb Pst I- Eco RI DNA fragment from phage clone 25/33 (probe I; see Fig. 2) was used as a 32 P-labelled probe. The genomic DNA was cut with the restriction enzymes Asp 718 (A), Bam HI (B) or Hin dIII (C). DNA from an uninfected mouse served as a control. The signals marked by an arrow represent rearranged DNA fragments due to proviral insertions.

Characterisation of the genomic tmi-1 locus

For further characterisation of the tmi-1 locus a genomic mouse DNA lambda phage library (Stratagene, agouti, liver, [lambda]-FixII vector) was screened with the 2.2 kb Pst I- Eco RI fragment from phage clone 25/33 (probe I). Two overlapping clones could be isolated and were used to establish a partial restriction map and to localise the proviral integrations of several tumours (Fig. 4 ). The positions of proviral tmi-1 integrations were found to span a region of ~6-7 kb (Fig. 4 ). Data from genomic Southern blots indicated in a Hin dIII digest the existence of two germline fragments of 7 and 2.3 kb (Fig. 4 ). However, the restriction map derived from genomic phage clones isolated with probe I indicated only one germline Hin dIII fragment (Fig. 4 ). A similar situation is found for Bam HI and Asp 718 digests suggesting that probe I contains sequences that recognise another locus besides tmi-1 . Indeed, FISH experiments to determine the chromosomal localisation of tmi-1 confirmed this conclusion. In order to identify loci on mouse chromosomes by FISH we had previously established two mouse lymphoma cell lines WMP-1 and WMP-2 by MoMuLV infection ( 19 ). These lines were obtained from a wild mouse strain (WMP) that carries Robertsonian translocations which allow an easy morphological distinction between different chromosomes ( 19 ). As a result, tmi-1 was clearly localised to chromosome 5, however, some of the mitotic figures revealed hybridisation to chromosome 14 (Zörnig and Möröy unpublished). Therefore, it is possible that the additional 2.3 kb DNA fragment that is recognized by probe I represents another genomic locus with sequence homology to tmi-1 . Alternatively, this fragment could be the result of a restriction fragment length polymorphism. This is not unlikely as the mouse strain that was used for the MoMuLV experiment is different from the strain used for the construction of the genomic library.


Figure 4 . Restriction map of the tmi-1/evi-5 locus. Two nearly identical lambda phage clones from a genomic mouse DNA library were identified with the 2.2 kb Pst I- Eco RI DNA fragment from phage clone 25/33 (probe I; see Fig. 3) and digested with the indicated restriction enzymes. S, Sal I; A, Asp 718; P, Pst I; B, Bam HI; RI, Eco RI; H, Hin dIII; Pv, Pvu II. Integration sites for tumour 33, 56, 137, 146, 154 and 209 are indicated.


Figure 5 . Schematic representation of 40 kb genomic DNA on mouse chromosome 5. The map shows the relative positions of the proviral integration loci tmi-1/evi-5 and pal-1 and of the MoMLV target gene gfi-1 , respectively. Indicated are the isolated overlapping genomic lambda phage clones which cover the complete chromosomal region.

The finding that tmi-1 is localised on chromosome 5 prompted us to examine the distance to the pal-1/gfi-1 locus which is also localised on this chromosome ( 18 ). Probes from the phage cone 25/33 were used to screen DNA genomic phage libraries and to perform a genomic walking experiment (Fig. 5 ). Several clones were obtained that contain overlapping sequences and stretched until the pal-1/gfi-1 locus (Fig. 5 ). Hybridisation of tumour DNA harbouring MoMuLV supF tmi-1 integrations with a gfi-1 cDNA however showed that tmi-1 and gfi-1 are distinct loci.


Figure 6 . Northern blot hybridisation of mouse organ poly(A) + RNA with the evi-5 probe shown in Figure 5. Besides a strong 7.5 kb signal there is an additional 2.4 kb message in liver RNA which is absent in other organs. The transcript of the housekeeping gene glyceraldehyde-3-phosphate dehydrogenase (GAPDH) is shown as a measure of mRNA loaded.

Recently, another common proviral insertion site in close neighbourhood to pal-1/gfi-1 on mouse chromosome 5 has been identified in tumours that arose in the inbred mouse strain AKXD ( 18 ). Mice from this background have a high rate of spontaneous lymphoma due to the mutagenic effect of their endogenous retroviruses ( 18 ). The novel integration site evi-5 turned out to cosegregate with gfi-1 and detailed analysis of the locus revealed that evi-5 and gfi-1 are ~18 kb apart ( 18 ). Hybridisation of tumour DNA from MoMuLV supF infected pim-1/L-myc double transgenic mice with an evi-5 probe (generously provided by A. Berns, Amsterdam) showed the same signals on Southern blots as probe I and thus clearly indicating that evi-5 is identical to tmi-1 (data not shown). The 2.9 kb evi-5 probe overlapped with the 2.2 kb Pst I- Eco RI fragment (probe I) in the genomic tmi-1 phage clones (Fig. 4 ). With several overlapping genomic phage clones we could confirm the notion from Liao et al . that tmi-1/evi-5 is located ~18 kb upstream of gfi-1 (Fig. 5 ; 18 ).

MoMuLV integrations at the tmi-1/evi-5 locus enhance gfi-1 mRNA level

By using the 2.9 kb evi-5 probe for a Northern blot hybridisation with total RNA from tumours bearing proviral tmi-1/evi-5 integrations no signal could be obtained (data not shown) raising the question what target gene is affected by proviral insertion at the tmi-1/evi-5 locus. Northern blot with poly(A) + RNA isolated from different mouse organs (Stratagene) the evi-5 probe detected a 7.5 kb message in several organs, especially abundant in liver where an additional 2.4 kb band appeared (Fig. 6 ). These data suggest that although there is a transcribed sequence in close vicinity to the tmi-1/evi-5 integration, it is very unlikely that the expression of this evi-5 associated gene is transcriptionally activated by proviral integrations in lymphoid tumours.

For further investigation of a possible target gene activated by tmi-1/evi-5 integrations we next analysed gfi-1 expression in a northern blot hybridisation with total tumour RNA. Interestingly, when the murine gfi-1 cDNA was used as a probe all tumours harbouring a MoMuLV supF tmi-1/evi-5 insertion showed an increased gfi-1 mRNA level compared with thymus and spleen from wild-type mice (Fig. 7 ). Increase in gfi-1 expression in these tumours is to the same extent as in tumours which exhibited elevated gfi-1 RNA amounts due to proviral insertions at two other integration loci immediately 5' and 3' of the gfi-1 gene affecting its expression ( 12 ). These results suggest that evi-5 is another common proviral integration site that activates gfi-1 expression and thereby participates in the process of lymphomagenesis.


Figure 7 . Northern blot hybridisation of total RNA isolated from tumours bearing proviral tmi-1/evi-5 integrations. Tumour number and organ of which the tumour material was prepared is indicated. As a control, RNA from tumour 27 that does not bear integrations in the tmi-1/evi-5 locus and RNA isolated from thymus of an uninfected wild-type mouse are loaded. RNA amounts were checked by ethidium bromide staining of 28S ribosomal RNA. pL, peripheral lymph node; t, thymus; sp, spleen.

Further retrovirally activated oncogenes in tumours from pim-1/L-myc bitransgenic mice harbouring tmi-1/evi-5 integrations

Table 2 lists second-site mutations at known common proviral integration sites in tumours with tmi-1/evi-5 insertions from MoMuLV supF infected E[mu] pim-1/ E[mu] L-myc double transgenic mice. Five of the tumours bearing a tmi-1/evi-5 integration also show viral activation of the tiam-1 gene ( 4 ). Five tumours show a further MoMuLV integration at the pal-1 locus. Tumour 154 shows in addition to its tmi-1/evi-5 integration a further direct activation of gfi-1 by a MoMuLV supF insertion upstream of and close to the gfi-1 gene. One tumour bearing a retroviral tmi-1/evi-5 integration also exhibits an insertion in the bla-1 locus which probably leads to activation of the zinc finger oncoprotein BMI-1 ( 1 , 2 ; A. Berns, personal communication).

DISCUSSION

In a previous study we reported retroviral activation of the gfi-1 and the tiam-1 gene in T-cell lymphoma in an infection experiment with E[mu] pim-1 /E[mu] L-myc bitransgenic mice ( 12 ). For the infection of these animals a mutant Moloney virus strain was used which contains the bacterial suppressor tRNA supF in its LTR. We attempted to isolate proviral integration sites in a functional supF screening procedure: genomic DNA libraries were constructed with the EMBL3A phage cloning vector which contains amber stop codons in two of the viral genes essential for phage replication ( 17 ). When plated with the supF - bacterial strain MC1061 only those phage clones could replicate that contained the retroviral supF sequence in their insert. All 68 clones obtained from five different lambda phage libraries which were constructed with the EMBL3A vector and genomic tumour DNA contained retroviral supF sequences in their insert representing MoMuLV supF integration sites. This procedure allowed to identify a common proviral integration site and demonstrated that MoMuLV retroviral insertion sites can be isolated from tumour tissue quite efficiently by using the MoMuLV supF mutant and the appropriate selection procedure.

Table 2 . Second site MoMuLV proviral insertions in tumours from infected double transgenic mice
Tumour number

Cell type

Additional identified proviral

MoMLV supF integration sites

12

T

bla-1

21

T

pal-1

55

T

pal-1

84

preB

tiam-1

112

preB

tiam-1

113

T

tiam-1

129

preB

pal-1

146

Preb

pal-1

154

T

gfi-1

188

preB

tiam-1

199

T

tiam-1

209

T

pal-1

Further identified MoMuLV supF integration sites in tumours bearing a Moloney virus insertion in the tmi-1/evi-5 locus. Retroviral integrations were identified by Southern blot hybridisation. The tumour cell type was determined by FACS analysis using antibodies against surface marker or by Southern blot analysis with immunoglobulin gene or T-cell receptor specific probes establishing the rearrangement status of the genes.

The integration site identified in the supF selection experiment was found to be identical to evi-5 which was originally discovered as a novel common site of retroviral integration in AKXD T-cell lymphoma and is located 18 kb upstream of gfi-1 on mouse chromosome 5 ( 18 ). Although it was also reported that evi-5 cosegregated with gfi-1 it remained unclear what gene is activated and is therefore involved in the process of tumourigenesis by the proviral insertion at evi-5 ( 18 ). To address the question we used different genomic probes from the locus to search for coding sequences. None of these probes revealed signals on Northern blots with total RNA from tumours bearing tmi-1/evi-5 integrations. It therefore seems very unlikely that proviral tmi-1/evi-5 insertions lead to an elevated expression level of coding sequences nearby the integration site.

When we analysed lymphoid tumours with tmi-1/evi-5 MoMuLV supF integrations for gfi-1 RNA amounts we found a significantly enhanced mRNA expression level which was comparable to the gfi-1 RNA amount found in lymphomas harbouring MoMuLV gfi-1 insertions. Thus it seems very likely that proviral integrations in the tmi-1/evi-5 locus lead to gfi-1 overexpression whereby the retroviral LTR sequences would have to act over a distance of 18 kb. This action over large distances is not unprecedented. Proviral integrations at Mlvi-1 and Mlvi-4 map between 30 and 270 kb 3' of the c-myc gene and upregulates its expression ( 20 ). Another example is the transcriptional activation of the cyclin D1 gene ( 21 ). Here, retroviral integrations at the Fis-1 locus activated expression of cyclin D1 over a distance of 50-300 kb ( 21 ). On the other hand, these findings indicate that besides the activation of the gfi-1 gene another target could be activated by tmi-1/evi-5 integrations that is located several hundred kb apart.

Three other proviral insertion clusters have been described which also lead to gfi-1 overexpression in Moloney virus induced murine lymphoma ( 11 , 12 ): virus integrations immediately upstream or downstream of the gfi-1 coding sequence as well as provirus insertions at the pal-1 locus enhance gfi-1 transcription and thus are very likely to contribute to T- and B-cell lymphomagenesis. Taking all these gfi-1 affecting integration sites together, the total percentage of tumours with retrovirally activated gfi-1 in the MoMuLV supF infected E[mu] pim-1 /E[mu] L-myc bitransgenic mice adds up to 53% excluding double integrations ( 12 ). This high percentage confirms the important role of gfi-1 as an effective collaborator of myc and pim-1 in lymphomagenesis. Originally, gfi-1 had been identified as a retroviral integration site in rat T-cell lines in a screen for IL-2 independence ( 13 ). Overexpression of the gfi-1 gene together with other yet unidentified events leads to IL-2 independent growth of former strictly IL-2 dependent growing T-cells ( 12 , 13 ). Transfection experiments with CTLL cells have indicated that gfi-1 expression is involved in an increase in proliferation rate ( 12 ) although it is very well possible that GFI-1 acts also by inhibiting apoptosis of IL-2 deprived T-cells. As the independence from growth factors like IL-2 is a prerequisite to tumour progression towards a more malignant state it would be a reasonable model to assume that myc , a transcription factor important in the regulation of cell proliferation, and pim-1 , a cytoplasmic serine/threonine kinase, would cooperate in the onset of tumourigenesis while engagement of gfi-1 in a tripartite cooperation with myc and pim-1 leads to tumour progression.

T- and B-cell lymphomagenesis is a multistep process in which activation of several cooperating oncogenes and inactivation of certain tumour suppressor genes contribute to malignant transformation of the lymphocytes. Therefore, it is not surprising to find MoMuLV integrations at several common integration sites such as tiam-1 and pal-1 or bla-1/bmi-1 in tumour DNA from the same infected mouse. Tiam-1 has recently been identified in a search for genes that coordinate the invasive behaviour of already transformed cells ( 4 ). Moreover, the TIAM-1 protein is thought to act as a GDP/GTP exchanger for the rho family of GTPases ( 4 , 22 ). Five tumours show a further MoMuLV integration at the pal-1 locus. While transcriptional activation of a candidate gene within the pal-1 locus has not been observed in tumours with pal-1 integrations all these tumours express high levels of gfi-1 mRNA confirming that retroviral insertions into the pal-1 locus also activate the gfi-1 gene ( 11 , 12 ). MoMuLV integrations at the tmi-1/evi-5 and the pal-1 locus in the same tumour might further upregulate gfi-1 expression. BMI-1 belongs to the polycomb family ( 2 ) and seems to be important in regulating the proliferation of a number of hematopoietic cells throughout pre- and postnatal life as well as for morphogenesis during embryonic development ( 23 ). Deregulated overexpression of BMI-1 in lymphocytes of E[mu] bmi-1 transgenic mice provokes a predisposition for lymphoma and strongly collaborates with c-MYC in tumourigenesis ( 24 ).

ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS

We are indebted to A. Berns and the members of his lab for the evi-5 probe and for the phage clone [lambda]23AB. We thank A. Grzeschiczek for excellent technical assistance and C. Stocking for providing the MoMuLV supF producing cell line. This work was supported by grants from the Deutsche Forschungsgemeinschaft (DFG, SFB 215-D10) and the Fonds der Chemischen Industrie to T.M. and by a stipend from the Graduiertenkolleg `Zell- und Tumorbiologie' to T.S.

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* To whom correspondence should be addressed

+ Present address: Biochemistry of the Cell Nucleus Laboratory, Imperial Cancer Research Fund, 44 Lincoln's Inn Fields, London WC2A 3PX, UK
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