title: Expression of retinoic acid receptor-alpha mRNA in human leukemia cells with variable responsiveness to retinoic acid.
abstract: Retinoic acid receptor (RAR)-alpha mRNA expression was studied in a variety of myeloid leukemia cells with variable responsiveness to the induction of terminal differentiation by retinoic acid (RA). Cells from both the wild-type (wt), RA-responsive HL-60 promyelocytic leukemia cell line and a selected greater than or equal to 300-fold RA-resistant subline expressed approximately equal amounts of two RAR-alpha transcripts, 4.0 and 3.1 kb in size. In wt cells, the RAR-alpha did not change during induction of granulocyte differentiation by RA or macrophagic differentiation by 12-0-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate (TPA). Relative to HL-60 cells, other cultured and fresh myeloid leukemia cells expressed 2.5-fold less to equal amounts of the RAR-alpha transcripts. The relative expression in six cases of acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL; two RA-responsive; one, previously treated with 13-cis-RA in vivo, equivocally RA-responsive) and one case of acute myelogenous leukemia (AML) with promyelocytosis (RA unresponsive) was 0.91 +/- 0.14 versus 0.53 +/- 0.14 for eight cases of nonpromyelocytic AML (p congruent to 0.001). Lymphoid leukemia cells expressed 2- to 5-fold less RAR-alpha mRNA. No qualitative variations in the mRNA transcripts were observed, although the 3.1 kb transcript was relatively decreased in three cases. The RAR-alpha gene was not amplified or detectably rearranged in any DNA source, although an apparent EcoRI restriction fragment length polymorphism was observed. It is concluded (a) that the steady-state level of RAR-alpha mRNA is not tightly correlated with natural responsiveness/unresponsiveness or, in some instances, acquired resistance to RA-induced differentiation and (b) that further studies are needed to determine if the mean 1.7-fold higher RAR-alpha mRNA level in APL cells could be an essential factor in the RA-responsiveness of APL cells, as primarily regulated at a different molecular level.
authors.affiliation: Department of Oncology, Montefiore Medical Center, Bronx, NY 10467.
authors.forename: R E
authors.initials: RE
authors.lastname: Gallagher
authors.forename: F
authors.initials: F
authors.lastname: Said
authors.forename: I
authors.initials: I
authors.lastname: Pua
authors.forename: P R
authors.initials: PR
authors.lastname: Papenhausen
authors.forename: E
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Paietta
authors.forename: P H
authors.initials: PH
authors.lastname: Wiernik
mesh_terms: D000328:Adult; D000368:Aged; D002352:Carrier Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D002869:Chromosome Aberrations; D004273:DNA, Neoplasm / Q000032:analysis; D005260:Female; D015870:Gene Expression; D006801:Humans; D007938:Leukemia / Q000235:genetics*; D008297:Male; D008875:Middle Aged; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000032:analysis*; D018168:Receptors, Retinoic Acid; D014212:Tretinoin / Q000494:pharmacology*; D014407:Tumor Cells, Cultured
chemical_list: D002352:Carrier Proteins; D004273:DNA, Neoplasm; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D018168:Receptors, Retinoic Acid; D014212:Tretinoin