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Effects of Nitrosocarbaryl on BALB/3T3 Cells¹

The University of Tennessee—Oak Ridge Graduate School of Biomedical Sciences and Carcinogenesis Program, Biology Division, Oak Ridge National Laboratory, Oak Ridge, Tennessee 37830

Carbaryl(N-methyl-1-naphthylcarbamate) and its nitrosated product, N-nitrosocarbaryl, were tested for their effects on BALB/3T3 (clone A31) cells in culture. Nitrosocarbaryl, but not carbaryl, caused transformation of the BALB/3T3 fibroblasts, but neither chemical induced the complete expression of endogenous murine leukemia virus. Transformed cells differed from the parental control cells by loss of contact inhibition, change in morphology, growth in soft agar, growth to higher saturation densities, and tumorigenicity in normal newborn and irradiated weanling mice and athymic (nude) mice. Transformed clones were found to be negative for expression of RNA tumor virus antigens, viral reverse transcriptase, and infectious virus. Thus, it appears that nitrosocarbaryl can transform BALB/3T3 cells to tumorigenic cells with altered biological properties but without complete activation of RNA tumor viruses in the transformed cells. Expression of viral antigen in the transformed cells was inducible by iododeoxyuridine, indicating that the endogenous viral genome was retained in an unexpressed state.

¹ This research was sponsored jointly by the Virus Cancer Program of the National Cancer Institute and by the United States Energy Research and Development Administration under contract with the Union Carbide Corporation.

² Postdoctoral Investigator supported by Subcontract 3322 from the Biology Division of Oak Ridge National Laboratory to the University of Tennessee and USPHS Research Grant CA00157 from the National Cancer Institute.

Received 12/11/74. Accepted 6/11/75.