Differential regulation of protein kinase C isoenzymes during sphinganine potentiation of retinoic acid-induced granulocytic differentiation in human leukemia HL-60 cells

Ceramide promotes the death of human cervical tumor cells in the absence of biochemical and morphological markers of apoptosis

C8-ceramide, a synthetic cell-permeable analog of endogenous ceramides, interfered with cell proliferation, and was cytotoxic to papilloma virus-containing human cervix carcinoma cells, CALO, INBL, and HeLa, that match two clinical stages of tumor progression. C8-ceramide (3 microM) markedly reduced the tumor cell number after 48 h of treatment, an effect that endured even after the removal of C8-ceramide. The carcinoma cells showed morphologic changes, characteristic of necrosis and released lactate dehydrogenase (LDH). A biologically inactive analog C8-dihydro-ceramide had no effect on cell viability in any of the cell lines tested. Seventy-two hours after C8-ceramide treatment none of the biochemical and morphological markers characteristic of apoptosis: (a) nuclear chromatin condensation, (b) DNA fragmentation, (c) proteolysis of the caspase-3 substrate poly-(ADP-ribose)-polymerase (PARP), and (d) appearance of phosphatidylserine on the external cell membrane, were observed. C8-ceramide had no effect on human cervix fibroblasts and induced a mild reduction (30%) in the proliferation of normal human cervix epithelia and HeLa cells (IV-B metastatic stage). The cytotoxicity of C8-ceramide was restricted to CALO (early II-B) and INBL (IV-A non-metastatic) carcinoma cells. The possible application of ceramide in the treatment of early stages of cervical cancer is discussed.

Accumulation of catalytically active PKC-zeta into the nucleus of HL-60 cell line plays a key role in the induction of granulocytic differentiation mediated by all-trans retinoic acid

The effect of differentiating doses of all-trans retinoic acid (ATRA, 10(-6) M) and vitamin D3 (10(-7) M) was investigated on the nuclear levels of endogenous ceramide and protein kinase C-zeta (PKC-zeta) catalytic activity in HL-60 myeloid cells. ATRA induced a parallel increase of ceramide and catalytically active PKC-zeta into the nuclear compartment of HL-60 cells (peak at 72 h). On the other hand, vitamin D3 increased the levels of nuclear ceramide and PKC-zeta activity to a lesser extent and with a delayed kinetics compared to ATRA (peak at 96 h). Pretreatment of HL-60 cells with high pharmacological concentrations of exogenously-added C2-ceramide (10(-6) M) completely blocked the ATRA-mediated activation of nuclear PKC-zeta. Exogenous C2-ceramide (10(-6) M) also inhibited the granulocytic differentiation induced by ATRA, whereas it did not affect monocytic differentiation mediated by vitamin D3. Transient transfection experiments performed with a plasmid construct containing a constitutively active mutated form of the PKC-zeta cDNA fused in 3' to a fluorescent tag protein (pEGFP-PKC-zeta) demonstrated that the overexpression of catalytically active PKC-zeta was not accompanied by the appearance of a differentiated morphology. These findings suggest that nuclear PKC-zeta is necessary but not sufficient to induce granulocytic differentiation of HL-60 myeloid malignant cells.

Stimulation of osteopontin mRNA expression in HL-60 cells is independent of differentiation

12-O-Tetradecanoylphorbol 13-acetate (TPA) induces HL-60 cells to differentiate along the monocyte/macrophage pathway and stimulates expression of the extracellular adhesion protein osteopontin (OPN). In this study, the mechanism of TPA-mediated OPN mRNA expression and its relationship to differentiation were investigated. The induction of OPN mRNA by TPA was dose dependently inhibited by staurosporine (0.4-10.0 nM) and chelerythrine (0.1-5.0 microM), indicating that OPN expression requires PKC activation. Furthermore, the mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase (MAPKK) inhibitor, PD 098059 (1.0-10.0 microM), inhibited the effect of TPA in a dose-dependent fashion. Cycloheximide (10 microg/ml) ablated the induction of OPN mRNA by TPA. To determine if OPN mRNA expression was associated with a particular differentiational pathway, HL-60 cells were treated with RA, 9-cis-RA, calcitriol, or sodium butyrate. None of these agents stimulated OPN mRNA. Treatment with TPA subsequent to a 120-h pretreatment with retinoic acid (RA), 9-cis-RA, or calcitriol resulted in a potentiation of the induction of OPN mRNA. These results support a role for protein kinase C (PKC) in promoting OPN expression because each of these agents increased PKC levels. An hOPN promoter/reporter construct was responsive to TPA, indicating that this effect is at the level of transcription. Thus, TPA-stimulated transcription of the OPN gene apparently occurs via a PKC/MAPK-dependent mechanism that is independent of that associated with differentiation and is not dependent on the maturational state of these cells.

Changes in calcium influx affect the differentiation of murine erythroleukaemia cells

As indicated by direct evidence, obtained by altering the cell-membrane permeability for Ca2+ in murine erythroleukaemia (MEL) cells, calpain is the triggering factor which connects fluctuations of the intracellular Ca2+ concentrations to the decay of protein kinase C (PKC), as well as to the kinetics of cell differentiation induced by hexamethylenebisacetamide. Cell exposure to verapamil caused a profound decrease in the rate of PKC down-regulation and a slower initial rate of accumulation of mature erythroid cells, whereas addition of the Ca2+ ionophore A23187 produced opposite effects. The high susceptibility of PKC-delta to calpain degradation, at concentrations of Ca2+ much lower than those required for degradation of the other PKC isoforms, may be explained by the finding that this kinase isoform is predominantly associated with the cell membrane. The different cellular localizations, as well as the different susceptibilities to calpain digestion, further support the hypothesis that in MEL cells the various PKC isoforms play distinct biological functions that are critical for the maintenance of the undifferentiated state of the cell and for its commitment to terminal erythroid differentiation.