Hexamethylene bisacetamide (HMBA) increases thyroglobulin levels in porcine thyroid cells without increasing cyclic-AMP

Hexamethylene bisacetamide can convert nonpermissive human cells to a permissive state for expressing the major immediate-early genes of human cytomegalovirus by up-regulating NF-kappaB activity

Expression of the major immediate-early (MIE) genes of human cytomegalovirus (HCMV) in the human thyroid papillary carcinoma cell line TPC-1 is repressed at the transcriptional level. However, treatment of these cells with hexamethylene bisacetamide (HMBA), a chemical inducer of differentiation, for 12 to 24 h before infection enabled the cells to support IE1 and IE2 gene expression and consequently HCMV replication. In HMBA-treated cells the transcription factor NF-kappaB was induced and the MIE promoter (MIEP) was activated. The presence of a NF-kappaB inhibitory peptide SN-50 or expression of a dominant negative IkappaBalpha protein during the HMBA pretreatment period efficiently prevented the HMBA-induced MIEP activation and MIE protein synthesis. Moreover, introduction of mutations into the NF-kappaB binding sites in the MIEP in a plasmid expressing the IE1 protein diminished its ability to express the protein in HMBA-treated cells. Therefore, the NF-kappaB activity previously induced in HMBA-treated cells and the NF-kappaB sites in the MIEP were shown to be essential for HCMV to respond to HMBA action and to express the MIE genes. Investigation of the mechanisms by which HMBA activates NF-kappaB revealed that degradation of IkappaBalpha and translocation of the phosphorylated NF-kappaB p65 subunit to the nucleus, both of which are known to be critical steps in NF-kappaB activation, are stimulated in the HMBA-treated cells. These results indicate that treatment of nonpermissive TPC-1 cells with HMBA induces MIE gene permissiveness by up-regulating NF-kappaB activity.

Expression of microtubule-associated protein 2 in benign and malignant melanocytes: implications for differentiation and progression of cutaneous melanoma

Cutaneous melanocytic neoplasms are known to acquire variable characteristics of neural crest differentiation. Melanocytic nevus cells in the dermis and desmoplastic melanomas often display characteristics of nerve sheath differentiation. The extent and nature of neuronal differentiation characteristics displayed by primary and metastatic melanoma cells are not well understood. Here, we describe induction of a juvenile isoform of microtubule-associated protein 2 (MAP-2c) in cultured metastatic melanoma cells by the differentiation inducer hexamethylene bisacetamide. Up-regulation of this MAP-2 isoform, a marker for immature neurons, is accompanied by extended dendritic morphology and down-regulation of tyrosinase-related protein 1 (TYRP1/gp75), a melanocyte differentiation marker. In a panel of cell lines that represent melanoma tumor progression, MAP-2c mRNA and the corresponding approximately 70-kd protein could be detected predominantly in primary melanomas. Immunohistochemical analysis of 61 benign and malignant melanocytic lesions showed abundant expression of MAP-2 protein in melanocytic nevi and in the in situ and invasive components of primary melanoma, but only focal heterogeneous expression in a few metastatic melanomas. In contrast, MAP-2-positive dermal nevus cells and the invasive cells of primary melanomas were TYRP1-negative. This reciprocal staining pattern in vivo is similar to the in vitro observation that induction of the neuronal marker MAP-2 in metastatic melanoma cells is accompanied by selective extinction of the melanocytic marker TYRP1. Our data show that neoplastic melanocytes, particularly at early stages, retain the plasticity to express the neuron-specific marker MAP-2. These observations are consistent with the premise that both benign and malignant melanocytes in the dermis can express markers of neuronal differentiation.

Expression and Up-regulation of alternatively spliced transcripts of melastatin, a melanoma metastasis-related gene, in human melanoma cells

Loss of expression of a novel suppressor of metastasis, melastatin (MLSN1), has recently been reported to correlate with metastatic potential of melanoma cells. Using differential display analysis, we identified MLSN1 among genes overexpressed in pigmented metastatic human melanoma cells treated with the differentiation inducer hexamethylene bisacetamide (HMBA). In this study, we show that multiple short transcripts of MLSN1 are present in melanocytes and pigmented metastatic melanoma cell lines while the full-length 5. 4-kb mRNA is detectable only in melanocytes. Treatment of pigmented melanoma cells with the differentiation-inducing agent, HMBA, results in up-regulation of the 5.4-kb MLSN1 mRNA as well as short RNAs. Analysis of a panel of nonpigmented primary and metastatic melanoma cell lines showed weak expression of a 1.8-kb mRNA in a few melanoma cell lines. Northern blot and RT-PCR analyses with DNA probes and oligonucleotide primers that correspond to distinct regions of full-length MLSN1 mRNA indicated that the short transcripts contained sequences corresponding primarily to either 5'- or 3'-end of the 5.4-kb mRNA. HMBA appears to up-regulate MLSN1 transcripts derived mainly from the 5'-end. Modulators of cAMP and protein kinase C pathways had no significant effect on MLSN1 expression. Our data show that multiple MLSN1 transcripts, both constitutively expressed and inducible, are present in cultured pigmented melanoma cells, and suggest that MLSN1 expression can be regulated at the level of both transcription and mRNA processing.