Somatic cell hybrids between human lymphoma lines. II. Spontaneous and induced patterns of the Epstein-Barr virus (EBV) cycle.

The regulation of spontaneous, IUDR-induced and P3HR-1 virus-induced EA and VCA production patterns was studied in two new somatic hybrids between human lymphoma lines. The hybrid 8A was derived from the crossing of the non-producer Raji with the spontaneous producer Daudi line. The second hybrid, 83, was produced by the fusion of Raji with the EBV-genome-negative B-lymphoma line, BJAB. The studies suggest the following EBV regulation patterns: (1) the spontaneous production of EA and VCA appears to be regulated by controls that differ from the regulators of P3HR-1 virus-induced or IUDR-induced EA synthesis. While spontaneous producer status was dominant over non-producer status, the level of EA inducibility was set by one of the parental cells, Raji ATG, and could either raise (in the previously studied Raji/Namalwa hybrid, cf Nyormoi et al. 1973) or depress (in Raji/Daudi) the level of relative EA inducibility found in the partner cell. (2) Although EA production is a prerequisite for VCA synthesis, the latter is under its own restriction mechanisms, quite independent of those that regulate the level of EA synthesis. (3) Inducibility of EA synthesis by P3HR-1 virus and by IUDR appear to be under the influence of at least partially identical controls. (4) EBV-negative lymphoma cells, exemplified by BJAB, may exert a "complementation" effect on the EA inducibility of their EBV-positive fusion partner, in spite of their own restrictivity against virus-induced EA synthesis. In more general terms, it is obvious that the EBV cycle is under the influence of multiple regulatory mechanisms in the human lymphoid cell. Depending on the parental cell and viral genomes that are allowed to interact, somatic cell hybrids may display a variety of patterns. At this time, cell hybridization is one of the few pathways that permit an approach to this complex and completely unknown world.