title: Synergistic increase of phorbol ester-induced c-fos mRNA expression by retinoic acid through stabilization of the c-fos message.
abstract: Retinoic acid (RA) has been shown to be able to antagonize or synergize with phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (PMA). In contrast to its antagonistic effects on PMA-dependent gene expression, no molecular target or mechanism of synergism has been characterized yet. We now report, that RA synergistically enhances the induction of c-fos, but not c-jun mRNA by PMA in cells whose growth was stimulated by RA alone. The responding cells were hybrids of tumor cell lines whose growth and PMA-dependent c-fos mRNA expression remained unaffected by RA. The increase in PMA-dependent c-fos expression required pretreatment of cells with RA for at least 2-4 h and was achieved at doses as low as 10(-10) M. Nuclear run-on experiments and transient transfection assays using a chimeric reporter gene construct with sequences from the c-fos promoter indicated that RA did not affect PMA-dependent c-fos transcription. Instead, RA stabilized the c-fos message after induction by PMA as assessed by measuring the half-life of c-fos mRNA in actinomycin D-treated cells. This post-transcriptional regulation provides a mechanism whereby RA can synergistically enhance gene expression by PMA.
authors.affiliation: Laboratory of Chemoprevention, National Cancer Institute, NIH, Bethesda, Maryland 20892.
authors.forename: K J
authors.initials: KJ
authors.lastname: Busam
authors.forename: A G
authors.initials: AG
authors.lastname: Geiser
authors.forename: A B
authors.initials: AB
authors.lastname: Roberts
authors.forename: M B
authors.initials: MB
authors.lastname: Sporn
mesh_terms: D004305:Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; D004357:Drug Synergism; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation / Q000187:drug effects*; D016762:Genes, fos; D016758:Genes, jun; D006801:Humans; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000032:analysis*; D013755:Tetradecanoylphorbol Acetate / Q000494:pharmacology*; D014158:Transcription, Genetic; D014212:Tretinoin / Q000494:pharmacology*; D014407:Tumor Cells, Cultured
chemical_list: D012333:RNA, Messenger; D014212:Tretinoin; D013755:Tetradecanoylphorbol Acetate