Characterization of cell lines derived from enlarged spleens induced in C57BL/6 mice by the variant BSB strain of Friend erythroleukemia virus.

BSB is a variant strain of Friend virus selected for pathogenicity in C57BL/6 mice that are resistant to parental Friend virus strains by virtue of their homozygosity for the recessive Fv-2r allele (Steeves et al., 1970, Int. J. Cancer 5, 346-356). Lines and clones of erythroleukemia cells could readily be established in culture from the enlarged spleens of BSB-infected Fv-2r homozygotes. All lines expressed viral gene products and could be induced to express hemoglobin. Some lines produced infectious virus. In addition to the viral envelope-related proteins (gPr85, gp70, and gp52) detected by precipitation with goat anti-Rauscher gp70 antiserum from tumor cell lines induced by parental Friend virus strains, BSB-induced cell lines also expressed gp80, p52, and gp45 products precipitable with the same antiserum. A rat monoclonal antibody that recognizes an epitope of an amino-terminal region of gp52 (Wolff et al., 1982, J. Virol. 43, 472-481) also precipitated the gp80 and gp45 viral proteins. The data indicate that the BSB strain of Friend virus is oncogenic in Fv-2r homozygotes. Transformation is correlated with the expression of an altered SFFV env-gene product.