The differentiation-inducing agent sodium butyrate produces divergent effects on albumin and thyroxine-binding globulin synthesis by human hepatoblastoma-derived (Hep G2) cells.

The addition of sodium butyrate, a differentiation-inducing agent, to the culture medium of human hepatoblastoma-derived (Hep G2) cells, produced a dose-dependent and time-dependent increase in albumin (ALB) and decrease in T4-binding globulin (TBG) synthesis and secretion. In the presence of 0.01 to 2.0 mM sodium butyrate, newly synthesized [35S]ALB progressively increased up to 139% of control cultures grown in the absence of sodium butyrate, whereas TBG synthesis was already slightly inhibited using the lowest concentrations of this agent and further diminished thereafter. The use of 5 mM and 10 mM sodium butyrate inhibited the synthesis of both proteins, probably as a consequence of toxic effects on cell cultures. The addition of 1 mM sodium butyrate for variable time intervals caused an increase in the amount of ALB recovered in the medium up to 146% after 72 h, and a decrease of TBG up to 44% of controls. These different effects on ALB and TBG occurred concomitantly with an inhibition of cell growth, as shown by the reduction in the cell number/flask compared to control cultures. At the highest sodium butyrate concentrations, a relevant impairment in the secretion of newly synthesized TBG, but not of ALB, also occurred. These divergent effects on ALB and TBG synthesis by Hep G2 cells might be related to biochemical differentiation induced by sodium butyrate in this tumoral cell system, suggesting that TBG synthesis is increased in Hep G2 cells because of their neoplastic nature.