Immortalization of Primary Murine B Lymphocytes with Oncogene-Containing Retroviral Vectors

Abstract

Various oncogenes have been implicated in B cell neoplasia, and the use of transgenic mouse models and in vivo experiments with oncogene-containing retroviral vectors has started to assign cooperative functions to these oncogenes in B cell transformation (Adams et al.,1985; Potter et al.,1987). In addition, much has been learned through the in vitro transformation of pre-B cells by retrovirally transferred oncogenes (Schwartz et al.,1986). However, the ability of oncogenes to immortalize primary mature (slg⁺) B cells has not been systematically explored. Indeed, it has been proposed that mature lymphocytes are refractory to infection with retroviruses. In these studies we have shown that mature B cells purified from murine spleen are readily infectable with ecotropic retroviruses, and have assayed a panel of oncogene-containing constructs for their ability to immortalize these primary cells in vitro.