Enforced expression of the c-myc oncogene inhibits cell differentiation by precluding entry into a distinct predifferentiation state in G0/G1.

A broad base of data has implicated a role for the c-myc proto-oncogene in the control of the cell cycle and cell differentiation. To further define the role of myc in these processes, I examined the effect of enforced myc expression on several events that are thought to be important steps leading to the terminally differentiated state: (i) the ability to arrest growth in G0/G1, (ii) the ability to replicate the genome upon initiation of the differentiation program, and (iii) the ability to lose responsiveness to mitogens and withdraw from the cell cycle. 3T3-L1 preadipocyte cell lines expressing various levels of myc mRNA were established by transfection with a recombinant myc gene under the transcriptional control of the Rous sarcoma virus (RSV) promoter. Cells that expressed high constitutive levels of pRSVmyc mRNA arrested in G0/G1 at densities similar to those of normal cells at confluence. Upon initiation of the differentiation program, such cells traversed the cell cycle with kinetics similar to those of normal cells and subsequently arrested in G0/G1. Thus, enforced expression of myc had no effect on the ability of cells to arrest growth in G0/G1 or to replicate the genome upon initiation of the differentiation program. Cells were then tested for their ability to reenter the cell cycle upon exposure to high concentrations of serum and for their capacity to differentiate. In contrast to normal cells, cells expressing high constitutive levels of myc RNA reentered the cell cycle when challenged with 30% serum and failed to terminally differentiate. The block to differentiation could be reversed by high expression of myc antisense RNA, showing that the induced block was specifically due to enforced expression of pRSVmyc. These findings indicate that 3T3-L1 preadipocytes enter a specific state in G0/G1 after treatment with differentiation inducers, into which cells expressing high constitutive levels of myc RNA are precluded from entering. I propose that myc acts as a molecular switch and directs cells to a pathway that can lead to continued proliferation or to terminal differentiation.