Glucocorticoids facilitate the stable transformation of embryonal rat fibroblasts by a polyomavirus large tumor antigen-deficient mutant.

The addition of glucocorticoids to the growth medium could substitute for the expression of the polyomavirus large tumor antigen in the transformation of rat fibroblasts in vitro. After transfection with a large tumor antigen-deficient mutant of polyomavirus, pbc1051, high-frequency permanent transformation was observed, if the cells were grown in medium containing dexamethasone. Growth of pbc1051-transfected rat fibroblasts was strictly dependent on the presence of glucocorticoids during the initial phase of transformation. In the second phase, the growth of pbc1051-transfected cells was stimulated by dexamethasone, but the hormone was not essential for growth. After approximately 10 weeks in culture, pbc1051-transfected cells had progressed to hormone independent growth. Rat embryo cells transfected with wild-type polyomavirus DNA had the second phase in which growth was stimulated by glucocorticoid, and after this phase growth was steroid independent. Addition of glucocorticoids to rat fibroblasts transfected with a plasmid encoding only the middle-sized tumor antigen resulted in only a weak stimulation of growth. In contrast, embryo cells transfected with a plasmid containing the human homologue of the cellular T24 Ha-ras gene linked to murine sarcoma virus and simian virus 40 enhancers could be efficiently established as cell lines in medium supplemented with glucocorticoids. The data suggest that, in the transformation of primary rodent cells by polyomavirus, the activity of large tumor antigen can be substituted for by stimulating normal cellular functions with dexamethasone.