Characterization of mouse mammary tumor viruses from primary tumor cell cultures.I. Immunologic and structural studies.

Primary cell cultures of mammary tumors from Rill, GR, DD, BALB/cfC3H, and BALB/c mice were prepared by trypsin-EDTA dissociation of tumors. Cultures from these strains contained predominantly cells of epithelial morphology which formed three-dimensional domelike structures. Cultures from Rill, GR, DD, and BALB/cfC3H tumors produced extra-cellular type-B mouse mammary tumor virus(es) (MuMTV), either in the absence of detectable type-C virus or with less than 1% contamination with type-C virus. This was determined by radioimmunoassays for MuMTV and murine leukemia virus (MuLV) antigens. Only BALB/c cultures produced MuMTV with as much as 3% contaminating MuLV. High levels of MuMTV surface antigen were also found in soluble form in culture supernatants. Virus polypeptide analyses by electrophoresis on polyacrylamide gels showed that the Rill BALB/cfC3H, DD, and BALB/c viruses all contained polypeptides characteristic of MuMTV. Primary cultures of mammary tumor cells make available a source of purified MuMTV antigens, structural proteins, and nucleic acids for comparative studies of MuMTV from various mouse strains.