The effects of fractionated gamma irradiation on induction of mammary carcinoma in normal and estrogen-treated rats.

The effects of dose fractionation on induction of mammary carcinoma were studied in normal and estrogen-treated female rats of the inbred WAG/Rij strain. Groups of 40 animals received total-body doses of 1 or 2 Gy of (137)Cs gamma radiation, administered in fractions of 2.5, 10 or 40 mGy with intervals of 12 h, or in fractions of 10 mGy with intervals of 2, 5 or 24 h.

The influence of estrogen treatment on induction of mammary carcinoma in rats by single-dose gamma irradiation at different ages.

The effect of age at exposure on induction of mammary carcinoma was studied in female rats of the inbred WAG/Rij strain that were treated with estrogen. Groups of 40 animals were exposed to a single total-body dose of 1 or 2 Gy of 137Cs gamma radiation at age 8, 10, 12, 15, 22, 36 or 64 weeks. Hormone levels in the animals were increased by implantation of a pellet containing Estradiol-17beta 2 weeks prior to irradiation.

Induction of mammary tumors in rats by single-dose gamma irradiation at different ages.

The effect of age at exposure on induction of mammary tumors was studied in female rats of the inbred WAG/Rij strain. Groups of 40 animals were exposed to a single total-body dose of 1 or 2 Gy of 137Cs gamma radiation at ages of 8, 12, 16, 22, 36 or 64 weeks and were observed for life. Mammary tumors, identified as nodules persisting and growing for 6 weeks, were resected and classified histologically as carcinoma or fibroadenoma.

Detection of total- and partial-body irradiation in a monkey model: a comparative study of chromosomal aberration, micronucleus and premature chromosome condensation assays.

Purpose: To investigate the efficacy of three cytogenetic methods (dicentrics, micronuclei (MN) and premature chromosome condensation (PCC) analysis) for assessment of the unirradiated fraction and the persistence of damage after total-body (TB) and partial-body (PB) irradiation of rhesus monkeys (Macaca mulatta).

Materials And Methods: Animals were exposed to X-rays (5 Gy), either TB or PB, with about 6% of marrow cells shielded. Blood samples were collected at different times after exposure, i.

A common deletion in two gamma ray induced rat pulmonary tumor cell lines.

Subtraction hybridization was performed on normal WAG/Rij rat DNA with DNA from a syngeneic Ir-192 induced pulmonary tumor cell line L37. The residual DNA was amplified by means of sequence-independent PCR. This procedure yielded a sequence, of which multiple copies are present in normal rat DNA.

Plasmid rescue of an oncogenic sequence containing a mouse mammary tumor virus gene.

Plasmid rescue was performed on an oncogenically transformed cell line established by transfection of NIH/3T3 cells with normal mouse DNA and plasmids containing a murine leukemia virus long terminal repeat, and a selectable marker. One of the rescued plasmids contained newly acquired DNA 3,500 basepairs in length. This sequence was present in several extra copies in the parental cell line.

Influence of the H-ras oncogene on radiation responses of a rat rhabdomyosarcoma cell line.

Rat R2k rhabdomyosarcoma cells were transfected with the human H-ras oncogene, which resulted in increased resistance to cell kill in vitro by a single dose of 137Cs gamma-rays. A subline carrying one oncogene showed an increase in the quasi-threshold dose (Dq) from 0.88 to 1.

The 5T mouse multiple myeloma model: absence of c-myc oncogene rearrangement in early transplant generations.

Consistent chromosomal translocations involving the c-myc cellular oncogene and one of the three immunoglobin loci are typical for human Burkitt's lymphoma, induced mouse plasmacytoma (MPC) and spontaneously arising rat immunocytoma (RIC). Another plasma cell malignancy, multiple myeloma (MM), arising spontaneously in the ageing C57BL/KaLwRij mice, was investigated in order to see whether the MM cells contain c-myc abnormalities of the MPC or RIC type. Rearrangement of the c-myc oncogene was found in the bone marrow cells only in 5T2 MM transplantation line in a mouse of the 24th generation and in none of the seven other MM of the 5T series which were of earlier generations.

Flow cytometric detection of ribosomal RNA in suspended cells by fluorescent in situ hybridization.

A method using flow cytometry and fluorescent in situ hybridization (ISH) to detect RNA in cells is described. L1210 murine leukemia cells were fixed with 1% formaldehyde in HEPES buffered Hank's balanced salt solution (HH) followed by 70% ethanol. Endogenous RNAses were blocked by diethylpyrocarbonate treatment.

Transactivating potential of the 3' open reading frame of murine mammary tumor virus.

The procaryotic chloramphenicol acetyltransferase (CAT) gene controlled by the murine mammary tumor virus (MMTV) promoter shows reduced activity in a rat mammary tumor cell line after infection with MMTV but to a considerably lesser extent than the CAT gene controlled by a heterologous promoter, indicating trans-acting regulation of promoter activity by MMTV. Cotransfection of vectors capable of expressing RNA from the 3' open reading frame (orf) of MMTV with the CAT-MMTV construct resulted in enhanced CAT activity, suggesting that orf carries a transactivating potential. Since transactivation was also found with a vector containing only orf and part of the viral env gene, it was concluded that a separate transcriptional unit exists for the orf message.

Presence of fibroblast-transforming genes in normal DNA of several mouse and rat strains.

Cellular DNA of the inbred mouse strains BALB/c, C3Hf, C57BL, CBA, DBAf , GRS and ND2 and the inbred rat strains BN, SD and WAG was shown to oncogenically transform murine fibroblasts of the continuous cell line BALB/3T3. Subcutaneous inoculation of transformed cells into BALB/c mice led to the rapid development of sarcomas. For transformation the DNA had to be fragmented to a size smaller than 23 kilobase pairs (kbp), with a lower limit of 6.

Sera from irradiated rats contain antibodies to a ubiquitous tumour-associated antigen.

Female rats of the inbred strains BN/BiRij and WAG/Rij were irradiated with 30 kV X-rays, or 15 MeV or 0.5 MeV fast neutrons. Sera were collected several months after irradiation and found to be negative for antibodies reacting with the murine mammary tumour virus as tested by a solid-phase radioimmunoassay and an immunofluorescence absorption test.

The concept of gene transfer-misrepair mechanism of radiation carcinogenesis may challenge the linear extrapolation model of risk estimation for low radiation doses.

The recent demonstration that transformation of cultured cells can be induced by exposure to DNA fragments prepared from normal mouse tissues provides experimental support to the gene transfer-misrepair hypothesis of radiation carcinogenesis. Employing various assumptions with regard to the generation of oncogenic DNA fragments and of cells which are susceptible to incorporate these fragments into their genome, it is predicted that the proposed mechanism implies a non-linear extrapolation model for the calculation of cancer risks caused by very low doses of ionizing radiation of low LET. It also follows from this hypothesis that X- and gamma-radiation delivered at an extremely low dose rate will be less carcinogenic than at high dose rate, in particular where low total doses are concerned.

Ubiquity of natural antibodies to the mammary tumour virus in mice.

Sera of female and male mice from eleven inbred mouse strains collected at either 4, 12, 36 or 60 weeks of age were tested for the presence of natural antibodies to the murine mammary tumour virus by means of the Sepharose bead immunofluorescence assay. Antibodies to the virus proved to be ubiquitous, but pronounced strain differences were found in titer and onset of antibody production. These differences were related to neither release of virus in the milk nor susceptibility to spontaneous mammary tumour development of a given strain.

Type-C virus antigen detection in co-cultures of human leukaemic bone marrow and dog cells.

Bone marrow of leukaemic patients, non-leukaemic patients and normal individuals were co-cultivated with the canine cell line A7573. These co-cultures were screened for retrovirus antigens by means of the indirect cytoplasmic immunofluorescence assay (IFA). Rabbit antisera directed against the major structural protein (p30) of woolly monkey (simian) sarcoma leukaemia virus (grown in human lymphoid cells) and Rauscher murine leukaemia virus were used for testing.

Characterization of a type-C virus produced by co-cultures of human leukemic bone-marrow and fetal canine thymus cells.

The putative human helper virus SKA-21/A204V, isolated by Nooter et al. in 1977 from human leukemic bone-marrow cells following co-culture with normal fetal canine thymus cells, Cf2th, has been characterized with respect to its major viral core protein, reverse transcriptase, and nucleic acid sequences. The results of these analyses show that this virus is not distinguishable from the woolly monkey type-C virus, SSAV-1, by the techniques employed.