novobiocin and Leukemia--Promyelocytic--Acute

The anthracycline antitumor antibiotic aclarubicin is known to induce granulocytic differentiation in the human myeloid leukemia cell line HL-60. We investigated whether this effect is accompanied by changes in the expression of the protooncogenes c-myc and c-myb. Treatment of HL-60 cells with aclarubicin, 50 nM, caused a rapid decrease in c-myc and c-myb mRNA levels within 1 h and 2 h, respectively. In parallel, we demonstrated a strong induction of superoxide-anion production on day 8 of treatment. The kinetics of the effect of aclarubicin on c-myc and c-myb expression were comparable to those associated with the dimethylsulfoxide-induced granulocytic differentiation in this cell line, or to those observed following a chase with actinomycin D, 4 microM. Since aclarubicin partially inhibited total- and poly(A)(+)-RNA synthesis, this macromolecular synthesis inhibition may be causally related to the decrease in c-myc and c-myb mRNA levels. In contrast, the conventional anthracycline doxorubicin, which did not initiate differentiation, failed to affect c-myc or c-myb mRNA levels even in high cytotoxic concentrations, indicating that the suppression of c-myc and c-myb mRNA levels may be an early differentiation-related effect of aclarubicin. On the other hand, actinomycin D, 12.5 nM, and novobiocin, 300 microM, two other known inducers of granulocytic differentiation in HL-60 cells, did not induce an early decrease in c-myb or c-myc expression. Therefore, the immediate suppression of c-myc and c-myb mRNA levels, apparently, is not an obligatory step in chemically induced myeloid differentiation in HL-60 cells, but the common phenomenon in DMSO- and aclarubicin-induced differentiation.

Topics: Aclarubicin; Cell Differentiation; Cell Division; Dactinomycin; Dimethyl Sulfoxide; Doxorubicin; Genes, myc; Humans; Leukemia, Promyelocytic, Acute; Novobiocin; Oncogenes; RNA, Messenger; Superoxides

One of the factors regulating the population size of a clone of proliferating cells is the induction of a physiological suicide mechanism known as apoptosis. We studied apoptosis in the HL-60 human promyelocytic leukemia cell line which differentiates when exposed to phorbol ester (S-cell), and in the PET-cell mutant of HL-60 which is defective in its response to phorbol ester. Exposing S-cells to 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol 13-acetate (TPA) (3 nM and above) induced morphological changes characteristic of apoptosis (visualized by light microscopy), and induced fragmentation of chromatin DNA to oligonucleosomal lengths. These changes were obvious in 48 h. In contrast, 1000 nM TPA for five days did not induce apoptosis in the PET-cell. DNA fragmentation was induced in both cell lines by A23187 (0.25 microM) and etoposide (7 microM). Novobiocin (600 and 900 microM) induced DNA fragmentation in S-cells, but higher concentrations inhibited fragmentation. Novobiocin is believed to induce DNA fragmentation by a direct action on DNA. In the case of PET-cells, novobiocin did not induce DNA fragmentation at any concentration, and prior treatment of PET-cells with novobiocin (300-1200 microM for 30 min) inhibited DNA fragmentation induced by A23187. Novobiocin inhibited cell growth equally in S-cell and PET-cells. It is concluded that the promyelocytes have the capacity to undergo apoptosis in response to agents which activate protein kinase C, and that the PET-cell has a mutation which disables both protein-kinase C-induced and novobiocin-induced DNA fragmentation, leaving intact the ability of novobiocin to protect DNA from calcium-entry-initiated fragmentation. The elucidation of the lesion responsible for the PET phenotype is likely to increase our understanding of this important pathway for regulating cellular proliferation and how it bears on leukemogenesis and chemotherapy.

Topics: Apoptosis; Calcimycin; DNA Damage; DNA, Neoplasm; Drug Tolerance; Etoposide; Humans; Leukemia, Promyelocytic, Acute; Mutation; Novobiocin; Tetradecanoylphorbol Acetate; Tumor Cells, Cultured

Studies were conducted to determine the possible involvement of DNA topoisomerase II (Topo II) in the induction of differentiation in two human promyelocytic HL-60 leukemia cell variants that are either susceptible or resistant to differentiation induced by phorbol-12-myristate-13-acetate (PMA), a protein kinase C activator. The acquisition of maturation markers and changes in the activity, level, and phosphorylation of Topo II were determined after treatment with either novobiocin, a Topo II inhibitor, or PMA. Novobiocin at 50-150 microM induced differentiation in the HL-205 cells but not in the HL-525 cells, although both cell types were equally susceptible to novobiocin-evoked cytotoxicity. In both cell types, novobiocin induced similar reductions in topoisomerase I activity but different reductions in Topo II activity. Treatment with novobiocin at 150 microM for 6 h or at 2 mM for 30 min resulted in a 4-fold or higher reduction in Topo II activity in the differentiation-susceptible HL-205 cells but not in the differentiation-resistant HL-525 cells. A differential response in Topo II activity was also observed after treatment with PMA. The novobiocin-evoked decrease in Topo II activity seems to be due to an enhanced enzyme proteolysis, whereas the PMA-elicited decrease in Topo II activity is associated with an increase in Topo II phosphorylation. 1-(5-Isoquinolinesulfonyl)-2-methylpiperazine, which is an inhibitor of protein kinases, including protein kinase C, diminished the novobiocin-elicited proteolysis of Topo II and the PMA-induced Topo II phosphorylation, as well as the decrease in Topo II activity and the acquisition of differentiation markers induced by either novobiocin or PMA. These results suggest that induction of differentiation in HL-60 cells by novobiocin or PMA is associated with a reduction in Topo II activity, mediated directly or indirectly by a protein kinase(s), perhaps protein kinase C.

Topics: Amsacrine; Cell Differentiation; DNA Topoisomerases, Type I; DNA Topoisomerases, Type II; Humans; Leukemia, Promyelocytic, Acute; Novobiocin; Phosphorylation; Protein Kinase C; Tetradecanoylphorbol Acetate