Quantitative of murine mammary tumor virus-related RNA in mammary tissues of low- and high-mammary-tumor-incidence mouse strains.

Lactating mammary glands and hormonally induced mammary tumors of BALB/c mice from three geographically separated breeding colonies were examined by molecular hybridization, using murine mammary tumor virus (MuMTV) cDNA representing the entire viral genome to determine the amount of MuMTV-related RNA expressed in these tissues. The RNA extracted from these tissues by the classical sodium dodecyl sulfate-pronase, phenol-chloroform procedure (method 1) contained barely detectable levels of MuMTV-related sequences. In contrast, both normal lactating mammary glands and hormonally induced mammary tumors of these mice were found to contain approximately one to two copies of the MuMTV genome per cell by using a new procedure in which the RNA was extracted with guanidine derivatives (method 2). No significant differences in the MuMTV-related RNA content of the BALB/c mammary tissues were observed regardless of their colony of origin. Our results suggest that expression of MuMTV RNA does not change in BALB/c mammary glands during transformation to a malignant state and that MuMTV expression does not play a role in tumorigenesis in these mice. In view of the increased recovery of MuMTV-related RNA from BALB/c mice with method 2, we compared the level of MuMTV RNA expression in lactating mammary glands and mammary tumors of other mouse strains, including C57BL/6 and RIII, using both extraction methods. Yields of MuMTV-related RNA from mammary tissues increased by as much as 35- to 40-fold, using method 2 as compared with method 1. Therefore method 2, involving guanidine derivatives, appears to be method of choice for MuMTV-related RNA extraction from the mammary tissues of certain strains of mice, particularly those expressing relatively low levels of MuMTV RNA.