Early reversible induction of leukotriene synthesis in chicken myelomonocytic cells transformed by a temperature-sensitive mutant of avian leukemia virus E26.

We used chicken myelomonocytic cells transformed by a temperature-sensitive mutant of the myb/ets oncogene-containing avian leukemia virus E26 to study the regulation of leukotriene (LT) synthesis during macrophage differentiation. Cells exposed to arachidonic acid and the Ca2+ ionophore 23187 produced up to 180 times more LTs at the nonpermissive temperature (42 degrees C) than at the permissive temperature (37 degrees C). Induction of LT synthesis was detectable within 2 hr after temperature shift, whereas conventional macrophage markers became evident after 2-3 days. N-Formylmethionylleucylphenylalanine, opsonized zymosan, and complement factor C5a induced LT synthesis in temperature-sensitive mutant-transformed cells only when the cells were maintained at 42 degrees C, and this effect was blocked by pertussis toxin. When cells were kept at 42 degrees C for 48 hr and then shifted back to 37 degrees C to induce retrodifferentiation, LT synthesis rates declined within 8 hr and reached near control values within 36 hr. Retrodifferentiation also led to decreased LT synthesis in response to N-formylmethionylleucylphenylalanine, opsonized zymosan, and C5a. These results indicate that activation of the 5-lipoxygenase pathway is a very early event in the macrophage differentiation pathway that is directly or indirectly controlled by the temperature-sensitive v-myb protein.