title: The viral and cellular Rel oncoproteins induce the differentiation of P19 embryonal carcinoma cells.
abstract: Rel proteins have been implicated in the differentiation and transformation of lymphoid cells. Despite their significant sequence homology to the Drosophila Dorsal morphogen, a functional role for Rel proteins in early development has yet to be established. Here we show that expression of the v- or c-rel genes in P19 embryonal carcinoma (EC) cells leads to drastic morphological changes accompanied by the expression of several differentiation-specific antigens. In contrast, v-Rel mutants defective for DNA-binding as well as those lacking the F9 cell-specific transcription activation region of v-Rel were equally unable to promote P19 cell differentiation. Our results demonstrate that transcriptional activation by Rel proteins correlates with Rel-induced differentiation of EC cells, and raise the intriguing possibility that Rel proteins may play an important role in early developmental processes.
authors.affiliation: Department of Viral Oncology, Kyoto University, Japan.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Inuzuka
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ishikawa
authors.forename: S
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Kumar
authors.forename: C
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Gélinas
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Ito
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D004247:DNA / Q000378:metabolism; D054278:Embryonal Carcinoma Stem Cells; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D014411:Neoplastic Stem Cells / Q000473:pathology*; D020572:Oncogene Proteins v-rel; D011518:Proto-Oncogene Proteins / Q000502:physiology*; D020569:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-rel; D015682:Retroviridae Proteins, Oncogenic / Q000502:physiology*; D014158:Transcription, Genetic
chemical_list: D020572:Oncogene Proteins v-rel; D011518:Proto-Oncogene Proteins; D020569:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-rel; D015682:Retroviridae Proteins, Oncogenic; D004247:DNA