The effect of viral transformation on prostaglandin production depends on cell type.

The role of prostaglandins in cellular differentiation and transformation has been widely studied. We have found previously that prostaglandin E2 production was greatly diminished in dog kidney cells (MDCK) after transformation by Harvey murine sarcoma virus. In the present study, we have shown that viral transformation can have differing effects in the ability to modify the production of prostaglandin in cultured cells. For example, the prostaglandin E2 production in rat kidney cells (NRK) is decreased after transformation by Rous sarcoma virus, while production in 3T3 cells is increased markedly after transformation by the same virus. Similarly, SV40 transformation increases prostaglandin E2 production of 3T3 cells and decreases the production in rat thyroid cells (FRTL). These results indicate that the biosynthetic pathway for prostaglandin production has varying susceptibility following viral transformation and the effect of transformation depends more on the type of cell than virus. Taking advantage of the well-defined transforming proteins encoded by polyomavirus, we have further studied the relationship between prostaglandin production in cells and the expression of T antigens in transformed cells. We showed that the expression of middle T antigen, which is associated with a protein kinase and is responsible for phenotype of transformed cells, is required for the change in prostaglandin production in cells. How these changes of prostaglandin production relate to the progression of viral transformation remains to be explored.