Short-term assays for detection of conditional cancerogens. I. Construction of DR-CAT Raji cells and some of their characteristics as tester cells.

A number of agents including the tumor promoter 12-0-tetradecanoyl-phorbol-13-acetate (TPA) (TPA) can induce an abortive virus cycle in the EBV-non-producer Burkitt's-lymphoma line Raji. Two distant regions, DL and DR, of the EBV genome with almost complete homology carry strong promoters which are induced in an abortive or lytic cycle and additionally function as lytic origins of viral DNA replication. To set up a system in which the activity of EBV-inducing agents can be measured in a quantitative and reproducible fashion, we generated a cell line which carries multiple copies of a DR-promoter chloramphenicol-acetyltransferase (CAT) construct on an episomal vector. CAT activity is low in untreated cells, but high upon treatment of the cells with various EBV-inducing agents. Combinations of different agents can produce an over-additive effect. The Raji-DR-CAT cell line may provide a simple quantitative and reproducible test system for EBV-inducing agents, especially for tumor promoters which activate protein kinases C.