Effects of the antisense v-myb' expression on K562 human leukemia cell proliferation and differentiation

miR-34a contributes to megakaryocytic differentiation of K562 cells independently of p53

The role of miRNAs in regulating megakaryocyte differentiation was examined using bipotent K562 human leukemia cells. miR-34a is strongly up-regulated during phorbol ester–induced megakaryocyte differentiation, but not during hemin-induced erythrocyte differentiation. Enforced expression of miR-34a in K562 cells inhibits cell proliferation, induces cell-cycle arrest in G1 phase, and promotes megakaryocyte differentiation as measured by CD41 induction. miR-34a expression is also up-regulated during thrombopoietin-induced differentiation of CD34+ hematopoietic precursors, and its enforced expression in these cells significantly increases the number of megakaryocyte colonies. miR-34a directly regulates expression of MYB, facilitating megakaryocyte differentiation, and of CDK4 and CDK6, to inhibit the G1/S transition. However, these miR-34a target genes are down-regulated rapidly after inducing megakaryocyte differentiation before miR-34a is induced. This suggests that miR-34a is not responsible for the initial down-regulation but may contribute to maintaining their suppression later on. Previous studies have implicated miR-34a as a tumor suppressor gene whose transcription is activated by p53. However, in p53-null K562 cells, phorbol esters induce miR-34a expression independently of p53 by activating an alternative phorbol ester-responsive promoter to produce a longer pri-miR-34a transcript.

Gene knockdown by large circular antisense for high-throughput functional genomics

Single-stranded genomic DNA of recombinant M13 phages was tested as an antisense molecule and examined for its usefulness in high-throughput functional genomics. cDNA fragments of various genes (TNF-alpha, c-myc, c-myb, cdk2 and cdk4) were independently cloned into phagemid vectors. Using the life cycle of M13 bacteriophages, large circular (LC)-molecules, antisense to their respective genes, were prepared from the culture supernatant of bacterial transformants. LC-antisense molecules exhibited enhanced stability, target specificity and no need for target-site searches. High-throughput functional genomics was then attempted with an LC-antisense library, which was generated by using a phagemid vector that incorporated a unidirectional subtracted cDNA library derived from liver cancer tissue. We identified 56 genes involved in the growth of these cells. These results indicate that an antisense sequence as a part of single-stranded LC-genomic DNA of recombinant M13 phages exhibits effective antisense activity, and may have potential for high-throughput functional genomics.

Potent growth inhibition of leukemic cells by novel ribbon-type antisense oligonucleotides to c-myb1

We studied the effects of antisense oligonucleotides (AS oligos) with a novel structure. The AS oligos were covalently closed to avoid exonuclease activities by enzymatic ligation of two identical molecules. The AS oligos of a ribbon type (RiAS oligos) consist of two loops containing multiple antisense sequences and a stem connecting the two loops. Three antisense sequences targeting different binding sites were placed in a loop that was designed to form a minimal secondary structure by itself. RiAS oligos were found to be stable because they largely preserved their structural integrity after 24 h incubation in the presence of either exonuclease III or serums. When a human promyelocytic cell line, HL-60, was treated with RiAS oligos to c-myb, c-myb expression was effectively ablated. Cell growth was inhibited by >90% determined by both the 3-[4,5-dimethythiazol-2-yl]-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide assay and [(3)H]thymidine incorporation. Further, when the leukemic cell line K562 was treated with c-myb RiAS oligos, colony formation on soft agarose was reduced by 92 +/- 2%. These results suggest that RiAS oligos may be employed for developing molecular antisense drugs as well as for the functional study of a gene.

Mechanism of regulation of complement receptor type 1 transcription by cytosine arabinoside in a pre-erythroid model

Binding to erythrocyte complement receptor type 1 (CR1) clears immune complexes from blood and tissues, preventing complement-mediated pathological inflammation in disease. Previous work has demonstrated that Ara-C, a cytosine analogue, induces an 11-fold increase in CR1 mRNA expression in K-562 erythroleukaemia cells. In this work we therefore investigated whether the Ara-C/K-562 system could be used as a model for studying the pre-erythroid regulation of CR1. We demonstrated that increased CR1 expression could be induced independently of increased haemoglobin expression. Increases in CR1 mRNA levels produced by Ara-C treatment were not a function of increased stability of the message. However, Ara-C induced a protein synthesis-dependent increase in transcription initiation rate as early as 12h after treatment. Further data suggest that the effect of Ara-C on transcription is not a result of its direct DNA-damaging or DNA polymerase-inhibition activities. Induction of receptor transcription was inhibited by tyrosine kinase (TK) and protein kinase C (PKC) inhibitors. These data suggest that TK, PKC and dCTP-adducted phospholipid signalling pathways may all play a role in the mechanism of Ara-C-induced CR1 transcription.

Retroviral mediated gene transfer in megakaryocytic cell lines

There have been no reports, to date, of successful introduction of foreign DNA into committed megakaryocyte precursor cells. We have successfully infected two megakaryocytic cell lines, one a committed cell line (CHRF-288-11) and the other a bipotential cell line (K562), with a retroviral vector containing the bacterial lacZ gene and a neomycin resistance marker. Modification of standard protocols was required for successful infection of the committed megakaryocyte cell line. Presence of the lacZ transgene was demonstrated at the molecular level by polymerase chain reaction (PCR), and its expression at the mRNA level by reverse transcriptase-PCR. Presence of the bacterial beta-galactosidase was demonstrated by both immunofluorescence and enzyme activity. Treatment of the CHRF-288-11 infected cells with phorbol esters, which induces megakaryocytic differentiation, increases expression of the lacZ transgene. The staining pattern of the lacZ reaction product was perinuclear and punctate in the CHRF-288-11 cells, whereas it was uniform throughout the cytoplasm of the K562 cells, suggesting different sorting mechanisms for bacterial beta-galactosidase in these two cell types. Overall, these results demonstrate the feasibility and provide a method for infecting cultured megakaryocytic cell lines with retroviral of vectors such that a molecular analysis of megakaryocyte differentiation can be accomplished.

Induction of apolipoprotein E expression during erythroid differentiation of human K562 leukemia cells

Apolipoprotein E (ApoE) is the only apolipoprotein that is expressed in extrahepatic tissues. ApoE expression was studied in leukemia K562 cells differentiated towards erythroid or myelomonocytic lineages. When K562 cells were differentiated into the erythroid lineage by addition either of 1-beta-D-arabinofuranosylcytosine or hydroxyurea, an increase in ApoE mRNA and protein was detected. A weaker ApoE induction was also observed during phorbol ester-induced myelomonocytic differentiation. Previous work has associated ApoE expression to monocytic differentiation. The findings reported here indicate that ApoE overexpression is not associated with a specific lineage in myeloid differentiation and that may play a role in erythroid differentiation.

Inhibition by 1,25 dihydroxyvitamin D3 of c-myc down-regulation and DNA fragmentation in cytosine arabinoside-induced erythroid differentiation of K562 cells

The effect of 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 (1,25(OH)2D3) on DNA fragmentation, altered expression of the heat shock protein (hsp) 70 gene, and protooncogenes c-myc and c-myb was studied during chemical induction of erythroid differentiation in K562 cells. Preincubation of K562 cells with 1,25(OH)2D3 did not alter the concentration of hemoglobin in cells which did differentiate, but led to a reduction in the accumulation of low molecular weight DNA generated by Ara-C administration. The extent of this reduction was similar to the degree of inhibition of hemoglobin formation in the culture as the whole. Preincubation with 1,25(OH)2D3 had no effect on the increase of hsp 70 gene expression induced by a 48-hr treatment with Ara-C, but prevented the Ara-C-induced down-regulation of the protooncogene c-myc. The protooncogene c-myb was down-regulated after 15 min of treatment with Ara-C, and exposure to 1,25(OH)2D3 prior to Ara-C caused a further down-regulation of its expression. The data suggest that the events associated with erythroid differentiation may be separable into at least two groups; one of these may have an influence on the kinetics of the cell cycle traverse, and the other may be related to the expression of the erythroid phenotype.

Induction of erythroid differentiation of K562 cells by 4-carbamoylimidazolium 5-olate (SM-108)

The effects of 4-carbamoylimidazolium 5-olate (SM-108), an antipurine compound, on a human leukemia cell line, K562, were studied. Treatment with SM-108 induced erythroid differentiation of K562 cells. During a 6-day culture with 100 microM SM-108, the cell number decreased to 37% of the control number, 77% of the cells became benzidine-positive, and the hemoglobin content increased from 2.1 +/- 0.2 to 10.6 +/- 1.3 pg/cell. Cell differentiation was associated with reduction of IMP dehydrogenase activity and intracellular GTP content to 25 and 36%, respectively, of the control values within 1.5 hr. The differentiation and decrease in the GTP pool induced by SM-108 were blocked by the presence of 25 microM guanine or guanosine. SM-108 also induced erythroid differentiation of K562 subline cells transfected with pMSG (K562/pMSG), which have an additional salvage pathway for GMP production from xanthine. The addition of 100 microM xanthine prevented erythroid differentiation of this subline and restored the GTP pool. These findings suggest that the induction of erythroid differentiation of K562 cells by SM-108 may be due to an early decrease in IMP dehydrogenase activity and a subsequent decrease in GTP content in the cells. Thus, purine metabolism may have an important role in SM-108-induced differentiation.