Nongenomic vitamin D3 analogs activating ERK2 in HL-60 cells show that retinoic acid-induced differentiation and cell cycle arrest require early concurrent MAPK and RAR and RXR activation

Effect of hypothyroidism on the expression of nuclear receptors and their co-regulators in mammary gland during lactation in the rat

Thyroid hormones (TH) regulate mammary function. Hypothyroidism (HypoT) has deleterious effects on lactation, litter growth and survival. We analyzed the effect of chronic 6-propyl-2-thiouracil (PTU)-induced HypoT in the expression of nuclear receptors, co-regulators and oxytocin receptor (OTR) on lactation (L) days 2, 7 and 14. TH receptors (TRs) were increased on L7 at mRNA and protein levels, except TRα protein, that fell on L14. HypoT decreased TRα2 mRNA on L7 and TRα1 protein on L2, while TRβ1 protein increased on L14. HypoT increased estrogen receptor β (ERβ) mRNA on L7 but decreased its protein levels on L14. Progesterone receptor A (PRA) mRNA decreased from L2 to L14 while PRB increased, and at protein levels PRA levels showed a nadir on L7, while PRB peaked. HypoT decreased PRA mRNA and protein and increased PRB mRNA at L14. Nuclear receptor co-activator (NCOA) 1 and RXRα mRNA showed an opposite pattern to the TRs, while NCOA2 increased at L14; HypoT blocked the variations in NCOA1 and NCOA2. HypoT increased NCOR1 on L2 and decreased OTR at L2 and circulating estradiol and NCOR2 at L14. In controls the most notable changes occurred on L7, suggesting it is a key inflection point in mammary metabolism. The low levels of TRα1, NCOA1 and OTR, and increased NCOR1 produced by HypoT on L2 may hinder the mammary ability to achieve normal milk synthesis and ejection, leading to defective lactation. Later on, altered ER and PR expression may impair further mammary function.

Modeling and analysis of retinoic acid induced differentiation of uncommitted precursor cells

Manipulation of differentiation programs has therapeutic potential in a spectrum of human cancers and neurodegenerative disorders. In this study, we integrated computational and experimental methods to unravel the response of a lineage uncommitted precursor cell-line, HL-60, to Retinoic Acid (RA). HL-60 is a human myeloblastic leukemia cell-line used extensively to study human differentiation programs. Initially, we focused on the role of the BLR1 receptor in RA-induced differentiation and G1/0-arrest in HL-60. BLR1, a putative G protein-coupled receptor expressed following RA exposure, is required for RA-induced cell-cycle arrest and differentiation and causes persistent MAPK signaling. A mathematical model of RA-induced cell-cycle arrest and differentiation was formulated and tested against BLR1 wild-type (wt) knock-out and knock-in HL-60 cell-lines with and without RA. The current model described the dynamics of 729 proteins and protein complexes interconnected by 1356 interactions. An ensemble strategy was used to compensate for uncertain model parameters. The ensemble of HL-60 models recapitulated the positive feedback between BLR1 and MAPK signaling. The ensemble of models also correctly predicted Rb and p47phox regulation and the correlation between p21-CDK4-cyclin D formation and G1/0-arrest following exposure to RA. Finally, we investigated the robustness of the HL-60 network architecture to structural perturbations and generated experimentally testable hypotheses for future study. Taken together, the model presented here was a first step toward a systematic framework for analysis of programmed differentiation. These studies also demonstrated that mechanistic network modeling can help prioritize experimental directions by generating falsifiable hypotheses despite uncertainty.

C/EBPalpha inactivation in FAK-overexpressed HL-60 cells impairs cell differentiation

We previously demonstrated that focal adhesion kinase (FAK)-overexpressed (HL-60/FAK) cells have marked resistance against various apoptotic stimuli such as oxidative stress, ionizing radiation and TNF-receptor-induced ligand (TRAIL) compared with vector-transfected (HL-60/Vect) cells. Here, we show that HL-60/FAK cells are highly resistant to all-trans retinoic acid (ATRA)-induced differentiation, whereas original HL-60 or HL-60/Vect cells are sensitive. Treatment with ATRA at 1 muM for 5 days markedly inhibited the proliferation and increased the expression of differentiation markers (CD38, CD11b) in HL-60/Vect cells, but showed no such effect in HL-60/FAK cells. Electrophoretic mobility shift assay (EMSA) using an oligonucleotide for the c/EBP consensus binding sequence showed that c/EBPalpha was activated in ATRA-treated HL-60/Vect cells but not in HL-60/FAK cells, indicating that c/EBPalpha activation by ATRA was impaired in HL-60/FAK cells. In addition, the association of retinoblastoma protein (pRb) and c/EBPalpha after treatment with ATRA was seen in HL-60/Vect cells but not in HL-60/FAK cells. Further, hyperphosphorylation of pRb was observed in HL-60/FAK cells. Finally, the introduction of FAK siRNA into HL-60/FAK cells resulted in the recovery of sensitivity to ATRA-induced differentiation, confirming that the inhibition of HL-60/FAK differentiation resulted from both the induction of pRb hyperphosphorylation and the inhibition of association of pRb and c/EBPalpha.