B-cell differentiation in the CBA/N mouse. I. Slower maturation of mitogen and antigen-responsive B cells in mice expressing an X-linked defect.

The effect of age on the mitogenic and antigenic responsiveness of B cells is examined in spleen cell cultures of CBA/N and (CBA/N X DBA/2) F1 mice. Spleen cells from young male F1 mice (4- to 6-wk old) show lower mitogenic responses to lipopolysaccharide, a lower frequency of sheep erythrocytes (SRBC)-reactive B-cell precursors, and a lower percentage of Ig-bearing cells than age-matched female F1 mice. The expression of all three functions were found to increase with the age of the F1 male mice. Whereas male F1 mice at 60 wk of age showed an equivalent percentage of Ig-bearing spleen cells and a similar mitogenic responsiveness to LPS when compared to adult female F1 mice, the frequency of SRBC-reactive B-cell precursors remained threefold lower. These findings reveal that there is a slower maturation of B cells in mice expressing the X-linked defect and suggests that the defect has differential effects on the mechanisms of antigen and mitogen activation of B cells.

Transformed lymphocytes from Abelson-diseased mice express levels of a B lineage transformation-associated antigen elevated from that found on normal lymphocytes.

Animals injected with Abelson murine leukemia virus (A-MuLV) rapidly develop fatal bone marrow-derived lymphosarcomas. In all such diseased animals tested, a subpopulation of bone marrow cells expressed a monoclonal antibody-defined, B lineage transformation-associated antigen (6C3 Ag) at levels increased from that detected on normal lymphocytes. Cells bearing a high level of this antigen were found to be transformed as measured by clonal growth in agar, and they expressed surface antigen markers characteristic of early pre-B cells. High-level antigen-expressing cells were found in the bone marrow, lymph nodes, and spleen, but never in the thymus of diseased animals. This distribution agrees with the published pathology of Abelson disease.

Progression of the transformed phenotype in clonal lines of Abelson virus-infected lymphocytes.

Some molecular changes which correlate with the tumorigenic progression of neoplastic cells can best be studied with in vitro cell lines that represent each stage in the progression. Lymphoid cells infected by Abelson murine leukemia virus exhibit a wide range of growth potential in vitro and in vivo. Uncloned populations that are poorly oncogenic early after infection become progressively more oncogenic with successive passages of the cells in culture. In such mass cultures, it is difficult to evaluate whether a rare subpopulation of highly oncogenic cells becomes dominant in the culture or whether the individual cells progress in oncogenic phenotype. To examine this latter possibility, Abelson virus-infected lymphoid cells were cloned by limiting-dilution culture 10 days postinfection. We isolated two clones that grew poorly in agar, required feeder layers of adherent bone marrow cells for growth in liquid culture, and were extremely slow to form tumors in syngeneic animals. Both clones, after passage in the presence of adherent feeder layers for 3 months, grew well in liquid and agar-containing cultures in the absence of feeder layers and formed tumors in animals at a rapid rate. The progression of these clonal cell lines to a more malignant growth phenotype occurred in the absence of detectable changes in the concentration, half-life, phosphorylation, in vitro kinase activity, or cell localization of the Abelson virus-encoded transforming protein. No change in the concentration or arrangement of integrated Abelson viral DNA sequences was detected in either clone. Thus, perhaps changes in the expression of cellular genes would appear to alter the growth properties of lymphoid cells after their initial transformation by Abelson virus. Such cellular changes could complement the activity of the Abelson virus transforming protein in producing the fully malignant growth phenotype.

Identification of a novel bone marrow-derived B-cell progenitor population that coexpresses B220 and Thy-1 and is highly enriched for Abelson leukemia virus targets.

A novel stage in early B-lymphocyte differentiation has been identified in normal mouse bone marrow cells. Earlier work had demonstrated that bone marrow cells characterized by low levels of Thy-1 and lack of a panel of lineage markers (Thy-1lo Lin- cells) were highly enriched for pluripotent hematopoietic stem cells. In this paper, we present evidence that another bone marrow population, which expressed low levels of Thy-1 and coexpressed B220, a B-lineage-specific form of the leukocyte common antigen, contained early and potent precursors for B lymphocytes upon in vivo transfer to irradiated hosts. These Thy-1lo B220+ cells, comprising 1 to 2% of bone marrow cells, were enriched for large cells in the mitotic cycle; the population lacked significant pluripotent hematopoietic stem cell activity and myeloid-erythroid progenitors. Most strikingly, Thy-1lo B220+ cells represented a highly enriched population of bone marrow cells that could be targets of Abelson murine leukemia virus transformation. We propose that Thy-1lo B220+ bone marrow cells represent the earliest stage of committed lymphocyte progenitors, intermediate in differentiation between Thy-1lo Lin- pluripotent stem cells and, in the B lineage, Thy-1- B220+ pre-B cells.

Murine B cell lymphopoiesis in long term culture.

A method is described for establishing continuous cultures of early B lymphocytes from mouse bone marrow. Total bone marrow elements are cultured at 37 degrees C in medium containing 5% fetal calf serum and 10(-5) M 2-mercaptoethanol. Under these conditions, adherent bone marrow cells grow to confluency by 2-3 weeks and provide a feeder layer on which the growth of the B lymphocytes depends. Lymphoid cell growth becomes apparent by 3-5 weeks. Such cultures are a rich source of pre-B cells, B cells and potentially stem cell-like elements capable of immunoglobulin gene rearrangement. The procedures for initiating and maintaining the bone marrow cultures are described in detail as are the phases of growth through which the cultures should progress. Also included are methods for preparing and manipulating low cell-density feeder layers, on which B cell populations can be expanded, and a method for obtaining pre-B and B cell clonal lines. The lymphoid cells which are obtained from these cultures early after establishment (3-8 weeks) are predominantly pre-B cells which can serve as targets for transformation by Abelson murine leukemia virus. Cells obtained from older cultures (3-6 months) frequently are B cells that express both membrane IgM and IgD. The numbers of cells which can be obtained from these mass cultures and clonal lines are sufficient to analyze the molecular processes involved in B cell maturation, virus transformation and antigen activation.

Long-Term B Lymphoid Cultures from Murine Bone Marrow : Establishment and Cloning by Using Stromal Cell Line AC 6.21.

Nearly all hematopoietic cells in mammals derive from precursors that undergo much or all of their development in the bone marrow. In vitro models for many lineages are available and represent modifications of the original bone marrow culture system designed by Dexter and Lajtha (1) and described elsewhere in this book. In this chapter, we describe a second bone marrow culture system, first reported in 1982 (2), that provides an in vitro environment selectively supporting long-term proliferation and differentiation of early B lymphocyte lineage cells. This method can be used to obtain heterogeneous populations of immature precursors of the B cell lineage greatly enriched from other hematopoietic cell types. Clonal populations can also be obtained by extension of this method to limiting dilution culture.

Long-term culture of B lymphocytes and their precursors from murine bone marrow.

Growth of mature B cells and their precursors from mouse bone marrow was maintained in culture for greater than 1 year. Feeder layers of adherent bone marrow cells, established in medium containing fetal calf serum and no exogenous steroids, were used to provide an in vitro environment that supported continuous growth and development of these cells. In such bone marrow cultures, the number of cells bearing membrane immunoglobulin increased gradually for 4 wk and then decreased. Between 10 and 14 wk, some of the cultures gave rise to continuously dividing B-cell populations that contained pre-B cells (producing mu heavy chains only and sensitive to transformation by Abelson murine leukemia virus) as well as mature B cells (synthesizing both light and heavy chains of IgM). Immunoglobulin molecules synthesized by cells in these populations were heterogeneous in two-dimensional gel analysis. This suggests that mature B cells arose via maturation of pre-B cells in the cultures that involved rearrangement and expression of different variable region gene segments.

Abelson virus-infected cells can exhibit restricted in vitro growth and low oncogenic potential.

We have designed a method for growing bone marrow cells infected with Abelson murine leukemia virus which permits examination of target cell growth early after infection. This culture system increases the efficiency of target cell growth by favoring rapid growth of a mixed population of adherent cells in the primary culture. The nonadherent Abelson virus-infected cell populations expressed pre-B-cell differentiation markers characteristic of Abelson virus-transformed cells (mu-heavy chains of immunoglobulin M and terminal deoxynucleotidyltransferase). Early after infection, these cell populations exhibited restricted in vitro and in vivo growth properties which differed from those of an established Abelson virus-transformed cell line, 2M3. These included a marked dependency upon the adherent cell layer for growth and viability, a lower efficiency of agar colony formation, and a lower capacity for tumor production in syngeneic animals. Growth of the early populations could be maintained in the absence of the adherent cell layer by using conditioned medium from long-term adherent cell cultures established in the absence of viral infection. After passage of the populations for several weeks, the in vitro growth properties gradually shifted toward that of the 2M3 cell line. Twelve-week-old populations grew independently of the adherent cell layer and showed an increased efficiency of agar colony formation. These data indicate that many lymphoid target cells exhibit an intermediate transformed phenotype when infected with Abelson virus. Growth of these cells in culture is mediated via a synergistic interaction between intracellular expression of the viral transforming gene and an exogenous growth-promoting activity which can be provided by cultures of adherent bone marrow cells.

Isolation of two early B lymphocyte progenitors from mouse marrow: a committed pre-pre-B cell and a clonogenic Thy-1-lo hematopoietic stem cell.

Two novel early B lymphocyte precursor populations have been identified by their capacity to differentiate in Whitlock-Witte bone marrow cultures. Cells expressing neither the B lineage antigen B220 nor Thy-1 contain committed B cell precursors which differentiate in short-term culture into pre-B and B cells. The other population expresses low levels of Thy-1, and lacks B220 as well as the T cell markers L3T4 and Lyt-2. The Thy-1+ cells which initiate long-term B cell cultures contain clonogenic B cell precursors at a frequency of 1 in 11, a 100-fold enrichment over unseparated bone marrow. Thy-1+ cells are also highly enriched for myeloid-erythroid precursors (CFU-S). Thy-1+ cells allow long-term survival of lethally irradiated mice and fully reconstitute the hematopoietic system, including T and B lymphocyte compartments. These results indicate that this population (approximately 0.1% of bone marrow) may contain the pluripotent hematopoietic stem cell.

In vivo tyrosine phosphorylations of the Abelson virus transforming protein are absent in its normal cellular homolog.

The transforming gene product of the Abelson murine leukemia virus (A-MuLV) is a phosphoprotein encoded by combined viral and cellular sequences. Previous work has shown the existence of a serologically crossreactive normal cellular phosphoprotein called NCP150. We have utilized two-dimensional phosphopeptide mapping and phosphoamino acid analysis to compare the structures of NCP150 and wild-type and mutant forms of the A-MuLV protein labeled in vivo with 32P-orthophosphate. This analysis demonstrated clear homology between NCP150 and wild-type A-MuLV protein, but a number of phosphorylation differences were seen. Among them, two specific tyrosine phosphorylations present in all transformation-competent Abelson proteins were not observed in NCP150. No other phosphotyrosine-containing peptides were detected. In addition, transformation-defective mutants isolated from either the P120 or P160 wild-type strain lack phosphotyrosine-containing peptides. Double-infection studies with such transformation-defective and transformation-competent A-MuLV strains show that Abelson viral proteins may be substrates for their own tyrosine-specific kinase activity in vivo. These observations suggest that the phosphotyrosine kinase activity of the abl region may be controlled, and may function, differently in its viral and cellular forms.

Lethal effect of the Abelson murine leukemia virus transforming gene product.

Infection of NIH/3T3 and Balb/c/3T3 fibroblastic cell lines by Abelson virus results in stable transformation in most cases. We have observed that certain rodent cell lines, including some Balb/c/3T3 sublines, do not maintain stable transformation following infection. Within three to four weeks of infection of these cell lines a large fraction of the cells is not recoverable upon serial passage and appear to be killed. The residual population of cells displays a flat, nontransformed phenotype. Concomitant with this reversion is the loss of the integrated provirus and loss of expression of the Abelson virus transforming protein. This loss of the integrated provirus is specific to transformation-competent viral strains. The effect of Abelson virus on these cells appears to be, in part, due to a lethal effect of the transforming protein on the cells. We have selectively isolated mutants of Abelson virus that stably transform these rodent cell lines without expressing a lethal effect. Analysis of the nucleic acid and protein structure of these mutant virus strains showed that the transforming proteins are shorter, having lost expression of the carboxy-terminal one third of the protein. We suspect that the carboxy-terminal portion of the wild-type Abelson protein may modulate the in vivo expression of the protein kinase activity and that this may cause the transforming protein to have a deleterious effect on certain cell lines.

Bone marrow stromal cell lines with lymphopoietic activity express high levels of a pre-B neoplasia-associated molecule.

Bone marrow stromal cell lines have been isolated that directly support B lymphopoiesis in vitro. Single B-lineage precursors proliferate and differentiate on certain of these stromal cell lines to establish long-term B-lineage cultures. These lymphopoietic stromal cells produce novel soluble factors that support proliferation of in vitro established pre-B cell populations. Lymphoid populations established on lymphopoietic stromal cell lines lack surface Ig-bearing cells, but give rise to surface Ig+ cells when transferred to mixed bone marrow feeder layers. Several stromal lines expressed a B-lineage neoplasia marker detected by the monoclonal antibody MAb6C3. Remarkably, only the 6C3Aghi stromal lines supported long-term proliferation of B-lineage cells. We propose that the 6C3 antigen-bearing molecule may play a role in stromal cell-dependent, pre-B cell proliferation, as well as in neoplastic proliferation of pre-B leukemias.

Differentiation of cloned populations of immature B cells after transformation with Abelson murine leukemia virus.

The nature of the target cell for Abelson virus transformation and the effect of transformation on B cell differentiation were studied with six cloned lines of nontransformed immature B lymphocytes. Three clones were at the pre-B cell stage of maturation prior to A-MuLV infection; two were at the B cell stage, and one appeared to represent a stage prior to rearrangement of the mu heavy chain gene. All six cloned lines could be transformed by Abelson virus. Many of the transformants of the pre-B cell clones underwent kappa light chain gene rearrangement and expression following viral infection. Distinct light chain gene rearrangements were segregated by further subcloning these transformed lines. Abelson virus infection of one cloned cell line believed to represent a stage of maturation prior to the pre-B cell stage produced pre-B cell transformants with a variety of heavy chain gene rearrangements. Thus B lymphoid target cells for Abelson virus are not restricted to a single developmental stage, and some transformed subclones can undergo extensive immunoglobulin gene rearrangements shortly after viral infection.