Posttranscriptional regulation of c-myc proto-oncogene expression and growth inhibition by recombinant human interferon-beta ser17 in a human colon carcinoma cell line.

Recombinant human interferon-beta ser17 (IFN-beta ser17), a cytokine that exhibits both antiviral and antiproliferative activity against a wide variety of cell types, causes a time- and dose-dependent inhibition of monolayer growth and of the expression of the c-myc proto-oncogene in DLD-1 Clone A human colon-carcinoma cells. The suppression of c-myc expression mediated by IFN-beta ser17 is due to a posttranscriptional destabilization of c-myc mRNA rather than to an inhibition of c-myc mRNA transcription. There is evidence suggesting that the selective reduction in the half-life of c-myc mRNA in IFN-beta ser17-treated cells occurs through an increase in the activity of the 2',5'-oligoadenylate synthetase/RNase L [2',5'-oligo (A) synthetase] pathway in DLD-1 Clone A cells. Cotreatment of these cells with IFN-beta ser17 and the anticancer agent N-methylformamide leads to the partial abrogation of 2',5'-oligo (A) synthetase activity and the stabilization of c-myc mRNA. These findings suggest that there is a correlation between the IFN-beta ser17-mediated suppression of c-myc expression and the induction of 2',5'-oligo (A) synthetase activity in DLD-1 clone A cells.