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Monitoring all-trans-retinoic acid-induced differentiation of human acute promyelocytic leukemia NB4 cells by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy

Leukemia volume 17, pages 1670–1674 (2003)Cite this article

TO THE EDITOR

A prominent phenotypic abnormality of human acute myelogenous leukemia is the inability of the cells to differentiate into functional mature cells; instead, the cells are blocked at an early stage of development, remain in the proliferative pool and rapidly accumulate. Acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL) is distinguished from other types of leukemia by a balanced t(15;17) (q22;21) chromosome translocation, distinct morphology and clinical features. It can be effectively treated with all-trans-retinoic acid (ATRA), resulting in suppression of proliferation and terminal granulocytic differentiation.1 ATRA could trigger the degradation of promyelocytic leukemia retinoic acid response-α (PML/RARα) and the reassembly of PML oncogenic domains, which play central roles in leukemogenesis. The gene expression profiles of ATRA treatment were in high accord with APL cell differentiation and proliferation, emerging harmoniously as a balanced functional network.2 It is the first molecular targeted therapy against a causative oncoprotein and the first application of principles of eucaryotic transcription to cancer biology.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by grants from Tsinghua University 985 Project. The authors would like to thank Dr Zhu CHEN (Rui-jin Hospital, Shanghai Second Medical University) for kindly providing NB4 and NB4-derived MR2 subclone cells.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biological Sciences and Biotechnology, Tsinghua University, Beijing, People's Republic of China

    M-J Liu, Z Wang, R-C Wu & Q-Y Wu

  2. Department of Chemistry, Tsinghua University, Beijing, People's Republic of China

    S-Q Sun

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  1. M-J Liu
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Liu, MJ., Wang, Z., Wu, RC. et al. Monitoring all-trans-retinoic acid-induced differentiation of human acute promyelocytic leukemia NB4 cells by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy. Leukemia 17, 1670–1674 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.leu.2403019

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