Loss of amplified c-myc genes in the spontaneously differentiated HL-60 cells.
Amplification of the c-myc gene in the human promyelocytic leukemia cell line HL-60 is considered to be one of the major causes of its malignant phenotype. It is also well known since the establishment of the cell line that a culture of HL-60 cells contains a small but fixed percentage of spontaneously differentiated cells. We show that the spontaneous differentiation could be a result of extensive losses of amplified c-myc genes by the findings: (a) the spontaneously differentiated HL-60 cells express Mac-1 (CR3, CD11b/CD18) antigen, irreversibly stop the uptake of [3H]thymidine, and die by apoptosis; (b) these cells, when isolated, and when the copy number of c-myc genes is precisely quantitated, show extensive losses of c-myc genes; and (c) low concentrations of hydroxyurea increase the percentage of spontaneously differentiated cells in which the number of c-myc genes is further decreased. A simple theoretical consideration suggests that an active elimination process(es) must be operating besides the stochastic losses of the extrachromosomally amplified c-myc genes by unequal partition at mitosis.
Shimizu
N
N
Life Science Group, Faculty of Integrated Arts and Sciences, Hiroshima University, Japan.
Nakamura
H
H
Kadota
T
T
Kitajima
K
K
Oda
T
T
Hirano
T
T
Utiyama
H
H
D001483:Base Sequence; D002454:Cell Differentiation / Q000235:genetics; D016521:Electrophoresis, Gel, Pulsed-Field; D017353:Gene Deletion; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic / Q000187:drug effects; D016259:Genes, myc / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D006918:Hydroxyurea / Q000494:pharmacology; D015473:Leukemia, Promyelocytic, Acute / Q000235:genetics* / Q000473:pathology; D015162:Micronucleus Tests; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016133:Polymerase Chain Reaction; D014407:Tumor Cells, Cultured
D006918:Hydroxyurea