Transgenic mice were used to locate the cis-acting DNA elements that are important for efficient, tissue-specific expression of the mouse albumin gene in the adult. Chimeric genes with up to 12 kb of mouse albumin 5'-flanking region fused to a human growth hormone (hGH) reporter gene were tested. Remarkably, a region located 8.5-10.4 kb upstream of the albumin promoter was essential for high-level expression in adult liver and the region in between -8.5 and -0.3 kb was dispensable. The far-upstream region behaved like an enhancer in that its position and orientation relative to the albumin promoter were not critical; however, it did not function well with a heterologous promoter. Two of four DNase hypersensitive sites found in the 5'-flanking region of the albumin gene map to the far-upstream and promoter regions; the others may reflect regions involved in developmental or environmental control of this gene.

Mice transgenic for a c-myc gene driven by the IgH enhancer (E mu-myc) were shown to almost invariably develop lymphomas, 90% succumbing in the first 5 mo of life. The tumors typically presented as rapidly progressive lymphadenopathy with thymic involvement and were highly malignant by transplantation assay. Morphologically, they were lymphoblastic lymphomas, usually accompanied by lymphoid leukemia and granulocytosis, and were distinct from the tumors that arose much later in 37% of nontransgenic mice of the same (C57BL/6 x SJL)F2 genetic background. Cell-surface markers on 31 E mu-myc tumors identified 52% as pre-B lymphomas, 29% as mixed pre-B and B lymphomas, and 19% as B lymphomas. The tumors appeared to arise at random from a population of pre-B cells expanded by constitutive expression of the myc transgene. A majority of the animals initiated malignancy at the rate of 17% per week. The rate at which the cycling, benign pre-B cells spontaneously convert to malignancy was estimated to about 10(-10) per cell per generation. A transient leukocytosis identified in young E mu-myc mice was developed into a rapid assay for inheritance of the transgene.

Genetic engineering of livestock is expected to have a major effect on the agricultural industry. However, accurate assessment of the consequences of transgene expression is impossible without multigenerational studies. A systematic study of the beneficial and adverse consequences of long-term elevations in the plasma levels of bovine growth hormone (bGH) was conducted on two lines of transgenic pigs. Two successive generations of pigs expressing the bGH gene showed significant improvements in both daily weight gain and feed efficiency and exhibited changes in carcass composition that included a marked reduction in subcutaneous fat. However, long-term elevation of bGH was generally detrimental to health: the pigs had a high incidence of gastric ulcers, arthritis, cardiomegaly, dermatitis, and renal disease. The ability to produce pigs exhibiting only the beneficial, growth-promoting effects of growth hormone by a transgenic approach may require better control of transgene expression, a different genetic background, or a modified husbandry regimen.

Overproduction of the hepatitis B virus (HBV) large envelope polypeptide by transgenic mice containing the entire HBV envelope coding region leads to the formation of extremely long (up to 800 nm), occasionally branching, filamentous 22-nm-diameter hepatitis B surface antigen particles that accumulate within the endoplasmic reticulum of the hepatocyte and are not efficiently secreted. As the endoplasmic reticulum expands to accommodate the increasing cellular filament stores, the hepatocytes become enlarged, hydropic, and eosinophilic and also display the characteristic features of "ground-glass" cells. As filament storage progresses, the ground-glass cells undergo coagulative necrosis and the mice develop an age-dependent lesion, whose severity is related to the intracellular concentration of envelope polypeptide, that is characterized by focal hepatocellular degeneration and necrosis, lobular macrophagic inflammation, and increased serum transaminase activity. Advanced lesions demonstrate hepatocellular hyperplasia evident as lobular architectural disarray and microscopic hepatocellular nodules, many of which no longer contain detectable HBV envelope antigens. These changes may become extreme, producing a massively enlarged liver due to multifocal nodular regenerative hyperplasia. Overproduction of the large HBV envelope polypeptide exerts major structural constraints on HBV particle formation, leading to reduced secretion and progressive intracellular accumulation of hepatitis B surface antigen, which can reach sufficiently high concentrations to be directly cytotoxic to hepatocytes in this transgenic mouse system.