Activation of related transforming genes in mouse and human mammary carcinomas.

High molecular weight DNAs of five tumors induced by mouse mammary tumor virus (MMTV), two mouse mammary tumors induced by a chemical carcinogen, and one human mammary tumor cell line (MCF-7) were assayed for the presence of transmissible activated transforming genes by transfection of NIH 3T3 mouse cells. DNAs of all five MMTV-induced tumors, one chemical carcinogen-induced tumor, and the human tumor cell line induced transformation with high efficiencies (approximately 0.2 transformant per micrograms of DNA). NIH cells transformed by DNAs of MMTV-induced tumors did not contain exogenous MMTV DNA sequences, indicating that MMTV-induced mammary carcinomas contained activated cellular transforming genes that were not linked to viral DNA. The transforming activities of DNAs of all five MMTV-induced tumors, the chemical carcinogen-induced mouse tumor, and the human tumor cell line were inactivated by digestion with the restriction endonucleases Pvu II and Sac I, but not by BamHI, EcoRI, HindIII, Kpn I, or Xho I. These results indicate that the same or closely related transforming genes were activated in six different mouse mammary carcinomas, induced by either MMTV or a chemical carcinogen, and in a human mammary carcinoma cell line.