Differentiation of HL60 cells: involvement of protein phosphorylation

The addition of retinoic acid (RA) to the human promyelocytic leukemic cell line HL60 in culture results in the cessation of growth and the acquisition of a more mature phenotype. Previous work in these laboratories has demonstrated a concomitant increase in the activity of calcium-dependent, phospholipid-sensitive protein kinase (PK-C). HL60 cells were incubated with /sup 32/P-P/sub i/ in the absence and presence of RA, homogenized, and aliquots subjected to two-dimensional electrophoresis. A comparison of autoradiograms made from these gels revealed several phosphoproteins whose radiolabeling was affected by RA. The radiolabeling of one particular phosphoprotein (49kd, pI 4.8) was found to be increased prior to phenotypic evidence of differentiation. It was demonstrated via incubating HL60 cytosol with /sup 32/P -ATP and Ca/sup 2 +/ in the absence and presence of phosphatidylserine and resolving the labeled proteins as above that this protein is phosphorylated by PK-C. The labeling of this protein was also increased by RA in other leukemic cell lines which showed phenotypic evidence of differentiation while no effect was seen in HL60 sublines resistant to RA or in mature neutrophils (the end product of myeloid differentiation). These results suggest that this protein may be an important intermediate in myeloid differentiation.