Cyclic AMP-binding proteins in normal and virus-transformed fibroblasts

We examined the notion that altered growth regulation in virally transformed fibroblasts is due to a biochemical lesion affecting cytosol receptor for cyclic AMP. Normal cultured fibroblasts used after two passages and transformed cells from mouse and hamster possess equivalent amounts of total cyclic AMP receptors, with similar apparent affinities for cyclic AMP and similar distribution among isoenzymic forms of cyclic AMP-dependent protein kinase. Furthermore, untransformed 3T3 cells display only a single peak of cyclic AMP-binding activity, as resolved by ion-exchange chromatography. These findings do not support the view that defective binding of cyclic AMP is essential for loss of growth control in vitro.