Authors: Julie A Vrana Emily S Cleaveland Alan Eastman Ruth W Craig
Publish Date: 2006/06/05
Volume: 11, Issue: 8, Pages: 1275-1288
Abstract
The antiapoptotic BCL2 family member MCL1 is rapidly upregulated upon exposure of ML1 myeloid leukemia cells to either differentiationinducing phorbol 12′myristate 13′acetate PMA or chemotherapeutic microtubule disrupting agents MTDAs This report examined how signaling for MCL1 upregulation is coupled to these two different phenotypic changes and tested for upregulation in other hematopoietic cancers With PMA ERK stimulated MCL1 mRNA expression and ML1 cell differentiation and ERK additionally stabilized expression of the MCL1 protein However with MTDAs transient ERK and ensuing JNK activation contributed to initial MCL1 upregulation and viabilityretention but sustained JNK activation eventually resulted in cell death MCL1 was upregulated by PMA in THP1 and U937 myeloid leukemia cells but by MTDAs only in THP1 cells MCL1 expression was constitutively elevated in multiple myeloma cell lines and was not affected by PMA/ERK or MTDAs Thus MCL1 expression level and sensitivity to regulation are important considerations in selecting approaches for targeting this antiapoptotic gene product to kill cancer cells
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