Polydom: a secreted protein with pentraxin, complement control protein, epidermal growth factor and von Willebrand factor A domains.

To identify extracellular proteins with epidermal growth factor (EGF) domains that are potentially involved in the control of haemopoiesis, we performed degenerate reverse-transcriptase-mediated PCR on the murine bone-marrow stromal cell line MS-5 and isolated a new partial cDNA encoding EGF-like domains related to those in the Notch proteins. Cloning and sequencing of the full-length cDNA showed that it encoded a new extracellular multi-domain protein that we named polydom. This 387 kDa mosaic protein contained a signal peptide followed by a new association of eight different protein domains, including a pentraxin domain and a von Willebrand factor type A domain, ten EGF domains, and 34 complement control protein modules. The human polydom mRNA is strongly expressed in placenta, its expression in the other tissues being weak or undetectable. The particular multidomain structure of the encoded protein suggests an important biological role in cellular adhesion and/or in the immune system.

HYR, an extracellular module involved in cellular adhesion and related to the immunoglobulin-like fold.

Domains belonging to the immunoglobulin-like fold are responsible for a wide variety of molecular recognition processes. Here we describe a new family of domains, the HYR family, which is predicted to belong to this fold, and which appears to be involved in cellular adhesion. HYR domains were identified in several eukaryotic proteins, often associated with Complement Control Protein (CCP) modules or arranged in multiple copies. Our analysis provides a sequence and structural basis for understanding the role of these domains in interaction mechanisms and leads to further characterization of heretofore undescribed repeated domains with similar folds found in several bacterial proteins involved in enzymatic activities (some chitinases) or in cell surface adhesion (streptococcal C-alpha antigen).

In vitro transformation of murine pro-B and pre-B cells by v-mpl, a truncated form of a cytokine receptor.

v-mpl is a constitutively activated, truncated form of a cytokine receptor that has been transduced in a murine retrovirus, the myeloproliferative leukemia virus (MPLV). Expression of this oncogene results in the factor-independent proliferation of myeloid, erythroid, megakaryocytic, and mast precursor cells, which retain the ability to differentiate. However, no lymphoid disease was ever reported. To determine whether MPLV could infect and transform very early B cells and their precursors (BCPs), lymphoid long-term bone marrow cultures were infected with a helper-free MPLV. Within 3 wk after infection, highly proliferating BCPs could be isolated. These cells were able to clone spontaneously in semi-solid cultures, grown in the absence of feeder cell layer or exogenous growth factor and rapidly produced tumors after s.c. injection into synegic irradiated mice. In addition, MPLV transformation of pre-B cells led to the induction of an autocrine activity. Immunophenotypic and molecular analysis indicated that MPLV transformed early pro-B, pro-B, and pre-B cells, according to the expression of HSA, CD43, B220, Thy1, s-IgM and BP1 Ags, and to the rearrangements of Ig genes. Interestingly, MPLV-transformed BCPs expressed Mac1 Ag without acquiring further characteristics of macrophagic differentiation. Although the v-mpl cytoplasmic domain is devoid of tyrosine kinase consensus sequence, MPLV-transformed pre-B cells contained a major approximately 105-kDa tyrosine-phosphorylated protein that was not detected in uninfected cells or in cells transformed by the Abelson viral oncogene (v-abl). These results demonstrate that, like v-abl, the truncated cytokine receptor v-mpl is able to transform BCPs in vitro and suggest that the oncogenic transformation of BCPs by either v-mpl or v-abl use different pathways.

Structure and transcription of the human c-mpl gene (MPL).

The human c-mpl proto-oncogene encodes a member of the cytokine receptor superfamily, expressed mainly in CD 34-positive hematopoietic progenitors and in the megakaryocytic lineage. To investigate the elements required for this tissue-specific expression, we cloned the human c-mpl gene (MPL) as well as the 5' end of the mouse gene. The human c-mpl gene contains 12 exons distributed over 17 kb of DNA. Each of the two "cytokine receptor domains" of Mpl is encoded by a set of four exons, the transmembrane domain by a single exon and the cytoplasmic domain by two exons. We also describe how three types of mRNA, encoding different proteins, are generated. The major species contains all 12 exons; mRNAs encoding a protein with a smaller cytoplasmic domain are produced by termination of the transcript within intron 10, and mRNAs encoding a putative soluble form of the c-Mpl protein lack exons 9 and 10. The promoter regions of the human and mouse genes were characterized. These promoters are GC-rich and contain putative binding sites for proteins of the Ets and GATA families. Finally, we show that a 700-bp fragment of the human c-mpl promoter is active in the HEL and K562 cell lines, which express erythroid and megakaryocytic markers, but is inactive in the nonhematopoietic HeLa cell line and the Jurkat T lymphoid cell line.

Characterization of the murine Mpl proto-oncogene, a member of the hematopoietic cytokine receptor family: molecular cloning, chromosomal location and evidence for a function in cell growth.

The v-mpl oncogene transduced in the myeloproliferative leukemia virus (MPLV) encodes a truncated form of a putative receptor protein that belongs to the cytokine receptor superfamily. We previously reported the cloning of complete human c-MPL cDNA. In the present report, we show that the murine Mpl proto-oncogene is located at the D-band of murine chromosome 4, in a region in synteny with human chromosome 1p34, where MPL was previously located. RNA blot analysis of murine hematopoietic tissues and cells lines indicated that Mpl is expressed in immature hematopoietic precursor cells. Molecular cloning of murine proto-oncogene c-Mpl cDNAs is also reported. Two cDNA species were isolated. One potentially encodes a transmembrane protein. The extracellular domain of this protein has two repeats of the cytokine receptor domain common to all members of this receptor family. The cytoplasmic domain has no protein kinase or phosphatase motifs, but does contain a sequence that has been shown to be essential for the transmission of a growth signal in several other members of the family. Comparison of murine and human putative proteins indicated that they shared 81% amino acid identity, the most conserved region being the cytoplasmic domain (91% identity). The other Mpl cDNA clones potentially encode a soluble form of this receptor chain. A chimeric receptor containing the extracellular domain of the granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) receptor fused to the transmembrane and cytoplasmic domains of Mpl was able to induce G-CSF responsiveness when transfected into the interleukin 3 (IL-3)-dependent cell line BAF/BO3. This demonstrated that the cytoplasmic Mpl domain is most probably implicated in proliferative signal transduction.

Expression of the c-mpl proto-oncogene in human hematologic malignancies.

Similar to two other hematopoietic growth factor receptors, the c-fms (macrophage colony-stimulating factor receptor) and the c-kit genes, c-mpl has been discovered through the study of oncogenic retroviruses. Unlike c-fms and c-kit, which both belong to a subgroup of tyrosine kinase receptors, the c-mpl proto-oncogene encodes a new member of the cytokine receptor superfamily. We have studied the expression of c-mpl in a series of 105 patients with hematologic malignancies using Northern blot analysis. The levels of c-mpl transcripts in lymphoid malignancies and in chronic myeloproliferative disorders were not significantly different from those found in normal bone marrow cells, in which c-mpl was barely detectable. In contrast, c-mpl expression was increased in 26 of 51 patients with acute myeloblastic leukemia (AML) and in 5 of 16 patients with myelodysplastic syndromes. Amplification of the c-mpl gene was detected in genomic DNA of one M4 AML patient. There was no significant correlation between c-mpl expression and the French-American-British classification of AML. Patients with high c-mpl expression appeared to belong to a subgroup of AML with a low rate of complete remission and a poor prognosis, including secondary leukemia and AML with unfavorable cytogenetic abnormalities.

Molecular cloning and characterization of MPL, the human homolog of the v-mpl oncogene: identification of a member of the hematopoietic growth factor receptor superfamily.

We have cloned the human homolog of the v-mpl oncogene transduced in the myeloproliferative leukemia retrovirus, which presents striking homologies with members of the hematopoietin receptor superfamily. We obtained two types of clones, MPLP and MPLK, which had the same 5' extremity but differed at their 3' ends. The resulting deduced polypeptides are composed of a common extracellular domain with a putative signal sequence and a common transmembrane domain, but they differ in their cytoplasmic domain after a stretch of 9 common amino acids. The extracellular domain of MPL contains the consensus sequences described for the members of the hematopoietin receptor superfamily. In addition, as for murine interleukin 3 and human and murine granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor type beta receptors, this domain can be divided into two subunits. An additional motif specific for MPL could be displayed by hydrophobic cluster analysis in the first subdomain. When RNAs from various hematopoietic cell lines were analyzed by Northern blot, MPL was detected only in the human erythroleukemia (HEL) cell line as a major 3.7-kilobase (kb) mRNA (MPLP) and a minor 2.8-kb mRNA (MPLK). However, study of MPL expression by PCR analysis indicated that MPL is expressed at a low level in a large number of cells of hematopoietic origin and that the two types of mRNAs (P and K) were always found to be coexpressed.

A putative truncated cytokine receptor gene transduced by the myeloproliferative leukemia virus immortalizes hematopoietic progenitors.

The myeloproliferative leukemia virus (MPLV) is an acute leukemogenic murine replication-defective retrovirus. By sequencing the envelope gene of a biologically active MPLV clone, we found that this region comprises a novel oncogene named v-mpl in phase with two parts of the Friend murine leukemia virus envelope gene. The MPLV env region could encode an env-mpl fusion polypeptide that presents the characteristics of a transmembrane protein. We show that in vitro infection of bone marrow cells with helper-free MPLV readily yields immortalized factor-independent hematopoietic cell lines of different lineages. In mice, the c-mpl proto-oncogene is expressed in hematopoietic tissues as a 3 kb mRNA. Since v-mpl shares strong structural analogies with the hematopoietin receptor superfamily, it is likely that MPLV has transduced a truncated form of an as yet unidentified hematopoietic growth factor receptor.

Oncogenicity of human N-ras oncogene and proto-oncogene introduced into retroviral vectors.

The N-ras gene is the only member of the ras family which has never been naturally transduced into a retrovirus. In order to study the in vitro and in vivo oncogenicity of N-ras and to compare its pathogenicity to that of H-ras, we have inserted an activated or a normal form of human N-ras cDNA into a slightly modified Harvey murine sarcoma virus-derived vector in which the H-ras p21 coding region had been deleted. The resulting constructions were transfected into NIH 3T3 cells. The activated N-ras-containing construct (HSN) induced 10(4) foci per microgram of DNA and was found to be as transforming as H-ras was. After infection of the transfected cells by either the ecotropic Moloney murine leukemia virus or the amphotropic 4070A helper viruses, rescued transforming viruses were injected into newborn mice. Both pseudotypes of HSN virus containing activated N-ras induced the typical Harvey disease with similar latency. However, we found that the virus which contained normal N-ras p21 (HSn) was also pathogenic and induced splenomegaly, lymphadenopathies, and sarcoma in mice after a latency of 3 to 7 weeks. In addition, Moloney murine leukemia virus pseudotypes of N-ras caused neurological disorders in 30% of the infected animals. These results differed markedly from those of previous experiments in which we had inserted the activated form of N-ras in the pSV(X) vector: the resulting SVN-ras virus was transforming on NIH 3T3 cells but was poorly oncogenic in vivo (M. Souyri, C. F. Koehne, P. V. O'Donnel, T. H. Aldrich, M. E. Furth, and E. Fleissner, Virology 158:69-78). However, similarly poor oncogenicity was also observed when the v-H-ras coding sequence was inserted in pSV(X) vector, which indicated that the vector sequences play a crucial role in the pathogenicity of a given oncogene. Altogether, these data demonstrated unequivocally that N-ras is potentially as oncogenic as H-ras and that such oncogenic effect could depend on the vector environment.

The human homolog of the myeloproliferative virus maps to chromosome band 1p34.

The human homologue of the recently isolated myeloproliferative leukemia virus, a retrovirus that induces myeloproliferative disorder in mouse, has been mapped in man to chromosome band 1p34 by in situ hybridization.

Myeloid progenitor cells transformed by the myeloproliferative leukemia virus proliferate and differentiate in vitro without the addition of growth factors.

The myeloproliferative leukemia virus (MPLV) is an acute leukemogenic, nonsarcomatogenic replication-defective murine retrovirus which carries a novel oncogene, termed mpl. We recently reported that both late and early erythroid progenitors from MPLV-infected mice acquire erythropoietin and growth factor independence. In the present study, we show that MPLV-infected pluripotent, granulomacrophage and megakaryocyte progenitor cells proliferated and differentiated in semisolid cultures in the absence of the exogenous growth factors which are absolutely required for colony formation of normal hematopoietic progenitor cells. These factor-independent colonies were morphologically and cytologically similar to normal colonies and did not show any sign of impaired differentiation. Factor-independent colony formation was not influenced by the seeding density. MPLV-infected cells were unable to stimulate colony development of uninfected progenitors in coculture assays, and retransplanted clusters continued to grow in the absence of accessory cells. These data suggest that spontaneous colony formation does not result from a paracrine secretion of growth factors and indicate that MPLV is unique among naturally occurring murine retrovirus for its ability to abrogate the growth factor requirements of a broad spectrum of hematopoietic progenitor cells.