Autoinduction of differentiation in myeloid leukemic cells: restoration of normal coupling between growth and differentiation in leukemic cells that constitutively produce their own growth-inducing protein.

Growth and differentiation of normal myeloid haematopoietic cells are regulated by a family of macrophage- and granulocyte-inducing (MGI) proteins. Some of these proteins (MGI-1) induce cell growth and others (MGI-2) induce cell differentiation. Addition of MGI-1 to normal myeloid cells induces growth and also induces the endogenous production of MGI-2. This induction of differentiation-inducing protein by growth-inducing protein then ensures the coupling between growth and differentiation found in normal cells. There are myeloid leukemic cells that constitutively produce their own MGI-1, but the cells do not differentiate in culture medium containing horse or calf serum. By removing serum from the medium, or in medium with mouse or rat serum, these leukemic cells are induced to differentiate to mature cells, which like normal mature cells, then no longer multiply. Leukemic cells with constitutive production of MGI-1 continuously cultured in serum-free medium with transferrin were also induced to differentiate by removing transferrin. This induction of differentiation was in all these cases associated with the endogenous production of MGI-2 by the cells. The results indicate that changes in specific constituents of the culture medium can result in autoinduction of differentiation in these leukemic cells due to restoration of the induction of MGI-2 by MGI-1, which then restores the normal coupling of growth and differentiation.     

Synchrony of gene expression and the differentiation of myeloid leukemic cells: reversion from constitutive to inducible protein synthesis

There are mutant myeloid leukemic cells that cannot be induced to differentiate in serum-free culture medium, or medium with calf serum by the macrophage and granulocyte differentiation-inducing protein (MGI-2) that induces differentiation in normal myeloid cells. These mutants can be induced to differentiate by MGI-2 in medium with mouse serum. The mechanism of this induction of differentiation has been analysed by using two-dimensional gel electrophoresis to study changes in the synthesis of cytoplasmic proteins. In calf serum, 46 of the protein changes that were induced by MGI-2 in normally differentiating cells were constitutive in the differentiation-defective mutant cells. Treatment with mouse serum reverted 13 of these proteins from the constitutive to the non-constitutive state. This reversion was associated with a gain of inducibility for various differentiation-associated properties, so that 23 proteins were induced by MGI-2 for the same type of change as in normal differentiation. A normal developmental program requires synchrony of gene expression. The existence of constitutive instead of inducible gene expression can produce asynchrony in this program and thus produce blocks in differentiation. The results indicate that it is possible to treat these mutant cells so as to induce the reversion of specific proteins from the constitutive to the non-constitutive state, and that this can then restore the synchrony required for induction of differentiation. It is suggested that this mechanism may also allow induction of differentiation in other types of differentiation-defective cells.     

The network of hemopoietic regulatory proteins in myeloid cell differentiation.

There are clones of myeloid leukemic cells that can be induced to undergo terminal cell differentiation to macrophages by normal hemopoietic regulatory proteins. Induction of differentiation in two different clones of myeloid leukemic cells with interleukin 6 (IL-6) or granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) resulted in induction of mRNA for the hemopoietic regulatory proteins IL-6, GM-CSF, interleukin 1 alpha and interleukin 1 beta, tumor necrosis factor, and transforming growth factor beta 1. In one of these clones, induction of differentiation with GM-CSF was also associated with induction of mRNA for macrophage colony-stimulating factor (M-CSF) but not for the receptor for M-CSF (c-fms), whereas in the other clone, induction of differentiation with IL-6 was associated with induction of mRNA for both c-fms and M-CSF. The clones also differed in their responsiveness to these regulators. There was no induction of mRNA for granulocyte colony-stimulating factor or interleukin 3 during differentiation of either clone. The results indicate that the genes for a nearly normal network of positive and negative hemopoietic regulatory proteins are induced during differentiation of these myeloid leukemic cells and that there are leukemic clones with specific defects in this network.     

DNA-binding protein that induces cell differentiation.

Macrophage and granulocyte-inducing (MGI) proteins regulate the growth and differentiation of myeloid hematopoietic cells. One class of these proteins (MGI-1) induces cell growth and another class (MGI-2) induces cell differentiation. Results obtained with DNA-cellulose column chromatography have shown that the differentiation-inducing protein MGI-2 can bind to double-stranded cellular DNA, but that there was no such binding under the same conditions by the growth-inducing protein MGI-1. DNA binding may thus be used to separate MGI-2 from MGI-1. The MGI-2 from mouse bound to DNA from mouse and calf. There were different elution peaks of the MGI-2 bound to DNA suggesting a heterogeneity of MGI-2 molecules, and the last peak eluted from the DNA cellulose column was enriched for one of the molecular forms of MGI-2. After one further step of purification by polyacrylamide gel electrophoresis, this molecular form of MGI-2 was active at a concentration of 6.5 X 10(-11) M. In normal development MGI-1 induces MGI-2. This induction of a DNA-binding differentiation-inducing protein by a growth-inducing protein is an efficient mechanism for the normal coupling of growth and differentiation. It is suggested that this may also be a mechanism for the normal coupling of growth and differentiation in other types of cells.     

Control of normal differentiation of myeloid leukemic cells. XI. Induction of a specific requirement for cell viability and growth during the differentiation of myeloid leukemic cells

Normal hematopoietic cells require the presence of a protein (MGI) in the appropriate conditioned medium (CM) for cell viability and growth and for differentiation to mature macrophages and granulocytes. Clones of myeloid leukemic cells have been established in culture (D⁺ clones) which require CM with this protein for differentiation, but not for cell viability and growth. It has been shown that these leukemic cells can be induced by CM to again require, like normal cells, the presence of CM for cell viability and growth. Induction of this requirement, which will be referred to as RVG, occurred before the D⁺ cells differentiated to mature granulocytes. Clones of myeloid leukemic cells (D^? clones) that could not be induced to differentiate to mature cells, did not show the induction of RVG. The steroid hormones prednisolone and dexamethasone can induce some, but not all the changes associated with differentiation of D⁺ cells. Incubation with these steroids did not result in the induction of a requirement for these steroids for cell growth and viability. Studies with CM from different sources have shown, that all batches that induced RVG also induced differentiation of D⁺ cells and that both activities were inhibited after treating the CM with trypsin. It is suggested that the same protein (MGI) may be involved in both activities. Incubation of D⁺ cells with CM resulted in an increase in agglutinability by concanavalin A and this increase was maintained even in the absence of CM. This suggests, that the induction of RVG in D⁺ myeloid leukemic cells is associated with a change in the cell surface membrane.     

Differences in surface membrane ecto-ATPase and ecto-AMPase in normal and malignant cells. I. Decrease in ecto-ATPase in myeloid leukemic cells and the independent regulation of ecto-ATPase and ecto-AMPase.

The hydrolysis of ATP and AMP by enzymes located on the external side of the plasma membrane (ecto-ATPase and ecto-AMPase) was studied in mouse myeloid leukemic cells, normal early myeloid cells, and normal mature granulocytes and macrophages. Nine clones of myeloid leukemic cells were used belonging to three groups that differ in their ability to be induced to differentiate by the differentiation-inducing protein MGI. These three groups consisted of MGI+D+ that can be induced to undergo complete differentiation, MGI+D- that can be induced to partially differentiate and MGI-D- with no induction of differentiation. The ecto-ATPase activity of normal early myeloid cells was similar to that of normal mature granulocytes and macrophages and higher than that of any of the leukemic cells. Among the leukemic cells, the MGI-D- cells had the highest level of ecto-ATPase activity. The behaviour of ecto-AMPase differed from that of ecto-ATPase. Some MGI-D- clones had a higher ecto-AMPase activity than normal cells and MGI+D- and MGI+D+ cells showed no detectable activity. Neither the ecto-ATP-ase nor ecto-AMPase activities changed after induction of differentiation in normal early myeloid or MGI+D+ leukemic cells. The results indicate that the myeloid leukemic cells had a decreased ability to hydrolyse external ATP, that there can be an independent regulation of ecto-ATPase and ecto-AMPase and that neither of these enzyme activities changed during differentiation.     

Control of normal differentiation of myeloid leukemic cells. IV. Induction of differentiation by serum from endotoxin treated mice

Sera from different strains of mice injected with endotoxin induced clones (D⁺) from a cultured line of myeloid leukemic cells to undergo normal differentiation to mature granulocytes and macrophages. Other clones (D^?) derived from the same cell line were not inducible by these sera to undergo normal cell differentiation. Sera from the same strains of mice that had not been injected with endotoxin, increased the cloning efficiency of D⁺ and D ^? clones but did not induce differentiation. Endotoxin serum induced differentiation in D⁺ cells at dilutions up to 1:64, but increased the cloning efficiency of these cells at dilutions up to 1:2048. The end point of the dilution of endotoxin serum that induced differentiation in D⁺ cells, was also the end point that induced the formation of colonies with differentiation from normal bone marrow cells. The results indicate that serum from endotoxin treated animals can serve as a good in vivo source to induce normal differentiation in D⁺ myeloid leukemic cells; that the progeny of a single leukemic cell was induced to undergo differentiation to both macrophages and granulocytes; that endotoxin serum contained two activities, one that increased cloning efficiency and the other that induced cell differentiation; and that the same material in endotoxin serum induced cell differentiation in normal and leukemic cells.     

Control of normal differentiation of myeloid leukemic cells. XIII. Inducibility for some stages of differentiation by dimethylsulfoxide and its disassociation from inducibility by MGI.

There are clones of myeloid leukemic cells that can be induced to differentiate by the normal differentiation-inducing protein MGI to form Fc and C3 rosettes, mature macrophages and granulocytes. One of these clones (MGI+DMSO+) was also inducible by dimethylsulfoxide (DMSO) for C3 but not Fc rosettes, and for mature macrophages but not for mature granulocytes. Other clones (MGI+DMSO-) were inducible by MGI but not DMSO and a third type of clone (MGI-DMSO-) was not inducible by either compound. Clones that differed in their inducibility by DMSO showed a similar inhibition of cell multiplication by DMSO. The results indicate, that some stages of differentiation can be induced by DMSO in an appropriate clone of myeloid leukemic cells and that there are different cellular sites for induction by DMSO and MGI.     

Cell differentiation and malignancy

An understanding of the mechanism that controls growth and differentiation in normal cells would seem to be an essential requirement to elucidate the origin and reversibility of malignancy. For this approach I have mainly used normal and leukemic blood cells, and in most studies have used myeloid blood cells as a model system. Our development of systems for the in vitro cloning and clonal differentiation of normal blood cells made it possible to study the controls that regulate growth (multiplication) and differentiation of these normal cells and the changes in these controls in leukemia. Experiments with normal blood cell precursors have shown that normal cells require different proteins to induce growth and differentiation. We have also shown that in normal myeloid precursors, growth-inducing protein induces both growth and production of differentiation-inducing protein so this ensures the coupling between growth and differentiation that occurs in normal development. The origin of malignancy involves uncoupling of growth and differentiation. This can be produced by changes from inducible to constitutive expression of specific genes that result in asynchrony to the coordination required for the normal developmental program. Normal myeloid precursors require an external source of growth-inducing protein for growth, and we have identified different types of leukemic cells. Some no longer require and other constitutively produce their own growth-inducing protein. But addition of the normal differentiation-inducing protein to these malignant cells still induces their normal differentiation, and the mature cells are then no longer malignant. Genetic changes that produce blocks in the ability to be induced to differentiate by the normal inducer occur in the evolution of leukemia. But even these cells can be induced to differentiate by other compounds, including low doses of compounds now being used in cancer therapy, that induce the differentiation program by other pathways. This differentiation of leukemic cells has been obtained in vitro and in vivo, and our in vivo results indicate that this may be a useful approach to therapy. In some tumours, such as sarcomas, reversion from a malignant to a non-malignant phenotype can be a result of chromosome changes that suppress malignancy. But in myeloid leukemia, the stopping of growth in mature cells by induction of differentiation bypasses the genetic changes that produce the malignant phenotype. These conclusions can also be applied to other types of normal and malignant cells.     

Glucocorticoid binding and mechanism of resistance in some clones of mouse myeloid leukemic cells resistant to induction of differentiation by dexamethasone.

Several clones of dexamethasone-resistant cells, which could not differentiate even in a high concentration of dexamethasone, were isolated from glucocorticoid-sensitive myeloid leukemic cells. Some of them were shown to be deficient in steroid binding to specific cytoplasmic receptors, while the others contained glucocorticoid-specific cytoplasmic receptors that might be the same as those in sensitive cells. One of the resistant clones was found to be almost completely deficient in nuclear acceptor sites for cytoplasmic steroid-receptor complexes. The remaining clones were also characterized by significantly reduced amounts of nuclear-bound glucocorticoid. These results suggest that resistibility to glucocorticoids in the resistant clones of myeloid leukemic cells is due mainly to a defect in some steps of intracellular transfer of the steroid. Dexamethasone-sensitive cells, which could differentiate in the presence of dexamethasone, could be also induced to differentiate by protein factor(s) in ascitic fluid. Although all the resistant cells showed a low response to ascitic fluid, some of them showed 10-fold enhancement of phagocytic activity which is a typical character of differentiated cells. These results suggest that response to steroids is not directly correlated with that to protein inducer(s).     

Transforming growth factor beta: possible roles in the regulation of normal and leukemic hematopoietic cell growth

We have recently demonstrated that transforming growth factor (TGF)-beta 1 and TGF-beta 2 are potent inhibitors of the growth and differentiation of murine and human hematopoietic cells. The proliferation of primary unfractionated murine bone marrow by interleukin-3 (IL-3) and human bone marrow by IL-3 or granulocyte/macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) was inhibited by TGF-beta 1 and TGF-beta 2, while the proliferation of murine bone marrow by GM-CSF or murine and human marrow with G-CSF was not inhibited. Mouse and human hematopoietic colony formation was differentially affected by TGF-beta 1. In particular, CFU-GM, CFU-GEMM, BFU-E, and HPP-CFC, the most immature colonies, were inhibited by TGF-beta 1, whereas the more differentiated unipotent CFU-G, CFU-M, and CFU-E were not affected. TGF-beta 1 inhibited IL-3-induced growth of murine leukemic cell lines within 24 h, after which the cells were still viable. Subsequent removal of the TGF-beta 1 results in the resumption of normal growth. TGF-beta 1 inhibited the growth of factor-dependent NFS-60 cells in a dose-dependent manner in response to IL-3, GM-CSF, G-CSF, CSF-1, IL-4, or IL-6. TGF-beta 1 inhibited the growth of a variety of murine and human myeloid leukemias, while erythroid and macrophage leukemias were insensitive. Lymphoid leukemias, whose normal cellular counterparts were markedly inhibited by TGF-beta, were also resistant to TGF-beta 1 inhibition. These leukemic cells have no detectable TGF-beta 1 receptors on their cell surface. Last, TGF-beta 1 directly inhibited the growth of isolated Thy-1-positive progenitor cells. Thus, TGF-beta may be an important modulator of normal and leukemic hematopoietic cell growth.     

Activation of normal genes in malignant cells: activation of chemotaxis in relation to other stages of normal differentiation in myeloid leukemia.

Genetically differerent clones of myeloid leukemic cells have been used to study the activation of normal genes in these malignant cells by the normal physiological inducer of myeloid cell differentiation, the protein MGI. In appropriate clones, MGI induced the normal differentiation-associated property of chemotaxis to a variety of compounds including the steroid hormone dexamethasone. The induced cells could also distinguish among different steroids by chemotaxis, suggesting that there are specific membrane interaction sites for steroids. The sequence of differentiation in these cells was the formation of C3 and Fc rosettes leads to phagocytosis of these rosettes and chemotaxis leads to synthesis and secretion of lysozyme leads to mature macrophages or granulocytes. The use of appropriate mutants and the comparison of induction by MGI and dexamethasone has shown that chemotaxis to casein can be dissociated from: chemotaxis to dexamethasone, ATP, and bacterial factor; formation of C3 or Fc rosettes; phagocytosis of these rosettes; synthesis of lysozyme; and the formation of mature cells. It is suggested from this dissection of normal differentiation that there are different membrane changes for specific chemotaxis, formation of these rosettes, and their phagocytosis, and that induction of each of these properties requires activation of different genes.     

Autocrine beta-related interferon controls c-myc suppression and growth arrest during hematopoietic cell differentiation

Different hematopoietic cells produce minute amounts of beta-related interferon (IFN) following induction of differentiation by chemical or natural inducers. The endogenous IFN binds to type I cell surface receptors and modulates gene expression in the producer cells. We show that self-induction of two members of the IFN-induced gene family differs in the dose response sensitivity and the prolonged kinetics of mRNA accumulation from the response to exogenous IFN-beta 1. Production and response to endogenous IFN are also detected when bone marrow precursor cells differentiate to macrophages after exposure to colony stimulating factor 1. In M1 myeloid cells induced to differentiate by lung-conditioned medium, addition of antibodies against IFN-beta partially abrogates the reduction of c-myc mRNA and the loss in cell proliferative activity, which both occur during differentiation. The endogenous IFN therefore functions as an autocrine growth inhibitor that participates in controlling c-myc suppression and the specific G0/G1 arrest during terminal differentiation of hematopoietic cells.     

Enhancement of hormone action by a phorbol ester and anti-tubulin alkaloids involves different mechanisms

The tumor-promoting phorbol ester 12-O-tetradecanoyl phorbol-13-acetate (TPA) enhanced 1-isoproterenol and prostaglandin E1 stimulated cyclic AMP formation in clones of mouse myeloid leukemic cells. The enhancement was found up to 3h after TPA treatment and had disappeared after 24h, indicating its reversibility. The effect of TPA was not inhibited by removal of extracellular Ca2+ or pre-treatment with the calcium ionophore A23187. This enhancement by TPA seems to involve a different pathway than enhancement of response to the same hormones after treatment with the anti-tubulin alkaloids colchicine or vinblastine, since a myeloid leukemic cell mutant clone that was non-responsive to the anti-tubulin alkaloids responded to TPA. Furthermore, combined treatment of colchicine-sensitive cells with TPA and colchicine showed an additive stimulating effect. The enhancement of cell response to hormones by TPA was found in myeloid leukemic cell clones that either were or were not induced to differentiate after treatment with TPA. This suggests that enhancement of the effect of these and possibly other hormones by TPA may be an initial step of TPA action, but that this enhancement is not sufficient to induce the wide repertoire of TPA effects including induction of differentiation.     

Protein kinase C betaII plays an essential role in dendritic cell differentiation and autoregulates its own expression

Dendritic cells (DC) arise from a diverse group of hematopoietic progenitors and have marked phenotypic and functional heterogeneity. The signal transduction pathways that regulate the ability of progenitors to undergo DC differentiation, as well as the specific characteristics of the resulting DC, are only beginning to be characterized. We have found previously that activation of protein kinase C (PKC) by cytokines or phorbol esters drives normal human CD34(+) hematopoietic progenitors and myeloid leukemic blasts (KG1, K562 cell lines, and primary patient blasts) to differentiate into DC. We now report that PKC activation is also required for cytokine-driven DC differentiation from monocytes. Of the cPKC isoforms, only PKC-betaII was consistently activated by DC differentiation-inducing stimuli in normal and leukemic progenitors. Transfection of PKC-betaII into the differentiation-resistant KG1a subline restored the ability to undergo DC differentiation in a signal strength-dependent fashion as follows: 1) by development of characteristic morphology; 2) the up-regulation of DC surface markers; 3) the induction of expression of the NFkappaB family member Rel B; and 4) the potent ability to stimulate allo-T cells. Most unexpectedly, the restoration of PKC-betaII signaling in KG1a was not directly due to overexpression of the transfected classical PKC (alpha, betaII, or gamma) but rather through induction of endogenous PKC-beta gene expression by the transfected classical PKC. The mechanism of this positive autoregulation involves up-regulation of PKC-beta promoter activity by constitutive PKC signaling. These findings indicate that the regulation of PKC-betaII expression and signaling play critical roles in mediating progenitor to DC differentiation.     

Granulocyte colony-stimulating factor and differentiation-induction in myeloid leukemic cells

The granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF) belongs to a family of hemopoietic growth factors regulating the production of granulocytes and macrophages. Murine G-CSF stimulates the proliferation and differentiation of precursors of neutrophilic granulocytes and is also able to stimulate the functional activities of mature neutrophils. Among the hemopoietic growth factors, G-CSF has an outstanding capacity to induce terminal differentiation and suppression of self-renewal in myeloid leukemic cells. Murine and human G-CSF's show complete biological cross-reactivity across species and bind equally well to G-CSF receptors of either species. Specific receptors for G-CSF exist on all normal neutrophilic cells and have not been lost in the generation of primary human myeloid leukemias. This data indicates that G-CSF may be a useful reagent in the treatment of myeloid leukemia, in hemopoietic regeneration and in increasing resistance against infections.