Overexpression of basal c-fos and c-jun but not of ras oncogenes after Theiler's murine encephalomyelitis virus infection of glial cells.

Constitutive expression of the cellular proto-oncogenes c-fos and c-jun, and in a lesser extent ras, was demonstrated in the glioma cell line C-6 by flow cytometry analysis using specific mono and polyclonal antibodies. Basal expression of the products of the early response genes c-fos and c-jun were increased 66 and 50% when Theiler's murine encephalomyelitis virus (TMEV) infected these cells. No increase in ras transcription could be demonstrated after infection. This activation follows a kinetic reaching maximum values after 60 min and was proportional to the multiplicity of infection used. The described effect was completely abrogated by rabbit antibodies to TMEV but was not altered by normal rabbit serum. Furthermore, an intact infectious virion is needed to detect this effect. Fetal calf serum and lipopolysaccharide stimulation slightly increases c-fos and c-jun expression following a slower kinetics. Cytokine treatment (IL-1 alpha, IL-6, IFN-gamma and TNF alpha), did not induce oncogene over-expression. Therefore, this stimulation seems to be linked to the TMEV infectious process.