The E1a gene of adenovirus type 2 reduces the metastatic potential of ras-transformed rat embryo cells.

We have previously demonstrated that second-passage rat embryo cells transformed by the ras oncogene alone are both tumorigenic and highly metastatic when injected into nude mice. In contrast, rat embryo cells cotransformed with the ras oncogene and the adenovirus type 2 (Ad2) E1a gene are tumorigenic but either fail to metastasize or exhibit a very low metastatic potential. In this report, we demonstrate that transfection of the Ad2 E1a gene into four independent ras-transformed rat embryo cell lines results in a dramatic reduction in metastatic potential relative to that of the parental cell line. Transfection of cDNAs for the 12S and 13S E1a transcripts showed that the 12S cDNA was highly effective in reducing the metastatic potential of ras-transformed cell lines, while the 13S cDNA showed an effect in only one of the two cell lines tested. This effect is specific to the Ad2 E1a gene, since ras-transformed cell lines expressing the Ad12 E1a gene maintained their high metastatic potential. We hypothesize that the Ad2 E1a gene may regulate the expression of one or more cellular genes that contribute to the metastatic phenotype.