Induction of transgene expression in Tg.AC(v-Ha-ras) transgenic mice concomitant with DNA hypomethylation.

Tg.AC transgenic mice have a transgene composed of a zeta-globin transcriptional control region, a v-Ha-ras coding region, and a simian virus 40 3' polyadenylation signal sequence. Induced ectopic expression of the transgene by chemical treatment or full-skin-thickness wounding leads to the development of skin papillomas. Reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction assays and protein blotting indicated that the transgene was expressed 16-28 d after full-skin-thickness surgical wounding. Normal unwounded skin did not express the transgene. DNA blotting indicated that the position of the transgene remained stable during wound-induced tumorigenesis. Concomitant with the v-Ha-ras mRNA and protein expression was the hypomethylation of specific MspI/HpaII sites within the transgene. These results are consistent with the hypothesis that hypomethylation is required for the induced and sustained expression of the Tg.AC v-Ha-ras transgene in spontaneous and induced tumors in Tg.AC mice.