Demethylation and Expression of Murine Mammary Tumor Proviruses in Mouse Thymoma Cell Lines

Murine mammary tumor virus (MMTV) expression is analyzed in a T-lymphoid cell line (T1M1) sensitive to the killing effect of glucocorticoids and in two of its variants, one resistant (T1M1r) and one supersensitive (T1M1ss) to glucocorticoid-induced lymphocytolysis. In the T1M1 line, MMTV is expressed and induced approximately 10-fold by short treatment with dexamethasone. Southern blot analyses of restriction enzyme digests of DNA from T1M1 cells reveal three proviruses similar to those of normal C57BL mouse tissue. In the T1M1ss line, which has retained functional glucocorticoid receptors, MMTV mRNA is inducible by glucocorticoids, while induction is reduced in the T1M1r line defective in glucocorticoid receptors. Moreover, the T1M1r line expresses a strikingly elevated basal level of MMTV mRNA in the absence of hormone. No rearrangements or superinfection have occurred in the variants, but all the regions containing 5'-long terminal repeats are demethylated in the T1M1r variant although other sites of the provirus remain methylated. Because this variant was selected by prolonged treatment with dexamethasone, these observations raise the possibility that the continuous transcription of MMTV that occurred during this selection can result in glucocorticoid-induced demethylation of long-terminal-repeat sequences.