Transformation of erythroid progenitors by viral and cellular tyrosine kinases

Recently, two different normal avian erythroid progenitors were described. They differ in the receptor tyrosine kinases they express and in their ability to undergo self-renewal in culture. A common progenitor, termed stem cell factor (SCF) progenitor, expresses the receptor for avian SCF c-Kit, and undergoes short-term self-renewal when grown in the presence of avian SCF. A second progenitor, referred to as SCF/transforming growth factor-alpha progenitor, coexpresses c-Kit and the avian epidermal growth factor receptor homologue c-ErbB. These progenitors undergo sustained self-renewal when grown in the presence of transforming growth factor-alpha plus estradiol. The phenotype of the normal SCF/transforming growth factor-alpha progenitors closely corresponded to that of erythroid cells transformed by the tyrosine kinase oncogenes v-erbB or v-sea. This suggested that these cells, but not the SCF progenitors, would be the target cells for erythroblast transformation by these oncogenes. However, we demonstrate that both progenitor cells can be transformed by the v-erbB and v-sea oncogenes and also by the ligand-activated proto-oncogene product c-ErbB. We conclude that the target cell specificity of certain tyrosine kinase oncoproteins for erythroid cells is a reflection of their ability to provide signals for self-renewal that normally emanate from the endogenous c-ErbB protein.