Inhibition of the expression of ornithine decarboxylase and c-Myc by cell-permeant ceramide in difluoromethylornithine-resistant leukaemia cells.
Biochem J
; 324 ( Pt 3): 783-9, 1997 Jun 15.
Article
in En
| MEDLINE
| ID: mdl-9210401
ABSTRACT
Ceramide has emerged as a novel lipid mediator in cell growth and apoptosis. In difluoromethylornithine-resistant L1210 cells stimulated to growth from quiescence, the cell-permeant analogues of ceramide N-acetylsphingosine (C2-ceramide) and N-hexanoylsphingosine (C6-ceramide) inhibited the induction of ornithine decarboxylase (ODC) activity with IC50 of 8.3 and 1.5 microM respectively. This effect was strictly related to the ability to inhibit cell growth and [3H]thymidine incorporation. The suppression of cell growth was also associated with apoptosis. The addition of bacterial sphingomyelinase resulted in a significant, but limited, reduction of ODC induction and [3H]thymidine incorporation. Bacterial lipopolysaccharide, which may act as a ceramide analogue, also inhibited the induction of the enzyme. Moreover, C6-ceramide largely prevented the accumulation of ODC mRNA and its precursor, ODC heterogeneous nuclear RNA, that accompanied the induction of ODC activity. A slight increase in ODC turnover was also observed. The DNA-binding activity of some transcription factors known to bind and transactivate the ODC gene was investigated by gel mobility-shift assay under the same experimental conditions. However, only the binding of Myc/Max was negatively affected by the treatment with C6-ceramide. Furthermore, the amount of immunoreactive c-Myc, which increased after stimulation of the cells to growth, was strongly reduced by C6-ceramide. These results suggest that the inhibition of c-Myc and ODC expression may be early events in the response of leukaemia cells to ceramide.
Full text:
1
Collection:
01-internacional
Database:
MEDLINE
Main subject:
Ornithine Decarboxylase
/
Leukemia L1210
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Gene Expression Regulation, Enzymologic
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Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic
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Ceramides
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Genes, myc
/
Eflornithine
Limits:
Animals
Language:
En
Journal:
Biochem J
Year:
1997
Document type:
Article