Inhibition of pp60c-src protein kinase by herbimycin A in polyomavirus middle tumor antigen-transformed cells.

The middle T antigen (MTAg) encoded by polyomavirus plays an important role in virus-mediated tumorigenesis. The activated protein kinase activity of MTAg-associated pp60c-src has been shown to be necessary for cell transformation by polyomavirus. In this study, the effects of herbimycin A on the pp60c-src kinase activities in the polyomavirus- and MTAg-transformed cells were studied. Phosphorylation of src and MTAg is reduced in polyomavirus and MTAg- transformed cells pretreated with herbimycin A. Inactivation of the enzymatic activity by herbimycin A was found to be dependent on the time of incubation and the drug concentration. In contrast, src immunoprecipitates from untreated MTAg-transformed cells appeared to be resistant to inhibition by herbimycin A. Herbimycin A does not affect the synthesis of MTAg and pp60c-src in the MTAg-transformed cells. These results suggest that pp60c-src kinase activity in the drug-treated cell lysates is more sensitive to herbimycin A inhibition than the same activity in the immunoprecipitates.