Erythropoietin receptor (EpoR)-dependent mitogenicity of spleen focus-forming virus correlates with viral pathogenicity and processing of env protein but not with formation of gp52-EpoR complexes in the endoplasmic reticulum.

Recent evidence suggests that interactions between spleen focus-forming virus (SFFV) env products and the erythropoietin receptor (EpoR) are responsible for viral pathogenicity. Infection of factor-dependent cell lines expressing epoR (the cloned gene for EpoR) with SFFVP is mitogenic, generating cell lines that are no longer dependent on added growth factor, and an immunoprecipitable complex between EpoR and immature env protein in the endoplasmic reticulum has been identified. The dependence of these in vitro activities on env protein processing and their relationship to pathogenicity of SFFV were explored by using glycosylation site mutants of SFFV env. Mutants carrying Asn-->Asp mutations at each of the two consensus signals for N-linked glycosylation in the N-terminal domain of SFFVAP-L env (gs1 and gs2), the gs1-2- double mutant, and the gs0 quadruple mutant (mutated at all four signals utilized for N-linked glycosylation in SFFVAP-L env) were made. The primary translation products (gp52) of single-site mutant envs were processed into more highly glycosylated forms, and the corresponding viruses induced splenomegaly in susceptible mice, whereas the gs1-2- and gs0 proteins were not processed, and these viruses were not pathogenic. Unprocessed env proteins of both pathogenic and nonpathogenic mutants coprecipitated with EpoR. In the BaF3 cell assay for epoR-dependent mitogenicity, the pathogenic single mutants induced factor-independent growth efficiently whereas the nonpathogenic gs1-2- and gs0 mutants did not. These data demonstrate that the ability of gp52 to form complexes with EpoR in the endoplasmic reticulum is not sufficient for either mitogenicity in cell culture or induction of splenomegaly in mice while supporting the hypothesis that pathogenicity and mitogenicity of SFFV both result from an interaction between EpoR and SFFV env protein.