1,25-Dihydroxyvitamin D3 regulation of c-myc protooncogene transcription. Possible involvement of protein kinase C.

1,25-Dihydroxyvitamin D3 (1,25-(OH)2D3) regulates the expression of c-myc protooncogene in HL-60 promyelocytic leukemia cells (Reitzma, P. H., Rothberg, P. G., Astrin, S. M., Trial, J., Barshavit, Z., Hall, A., Teitelbaum, S. U., and Kahn, A. J. (1983) Nature 306, 492-494). The regulation of c-myc expression occurs at least in part at the transcriptional level (Simpson, R. U., Hsu, T., Begley, D. A., Mitchell, B. S., and Alizadeh, B. N. (1987) J. Biol. Chem. 262, 4104-4108). Also, 1,25-(OH)2D3 stimulates an increase in protein kinase C (PKC) levels and inhibitors of PKC block 1,25-(OH)2D3-induced differentiation of HL-60 cells (Martell, R. E., Simpson, R. U., and Taylor, J. M. (1987) J. Biol. Chem. 262, 5570-5575). In this report we demonstrated that sphinganine, an inhibitor of PKC that is mechanistically and structurally distinct from 1-(5-isoquinoline sulfonyl)-2-methylpiperazine-HCl (H-7), also blocks 1,25-(OH)2D3 induction of HL-60 cell differentiation. The effect of inhibitors of PKC on 1,25-(OH)2D3 regulation of c-myc transcription was examined. H-7 (18 microM) and sphinganine (3 and 6 microM) blunted 1,25-(OH)2D3-induced reduction of c-myc transcription as assessed by nuclear run-off assays. We showed that c-myc/beta-actin ratios (cpm/cpm, % of control mean +/- S.E.) were as follows: ethanol control, 100 +/- 14%; 50 nM 1,25-(OH)2D3, 17 +/- 5%; 50 nM 1,25-(OH)2D3 and 6 microM H-7, 13 +/- 6%; 50 nM 1,25-(OH)2D3 and 18 microM H-7, 53 +/- 6% 50 nM 1,25-(OH)2D3 and 18 microM N-[2-guanidinoethyl]-5-isoquinoline sulfonamide (HA-1004), 10 +/- 8%; 50 nM 1,25-(OH)2D3 and 6 microM sphinganine, 49 +/- 8%. No significant differences in c-myc transcription between control, 18 microM H-7, 18 microM HA-1004, and 3 or 6 microM sphinganine-treated cells were observed. The block in c-myc transcription was beyond exon 1, and regulation of exon 1 transcription by 1,25-(OH)2D3 was not detected. Furthermore, we demonstrated that expression of markers for HL-60 cell differentiation was more rapidly induced by 25 nM 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate than 50 nM 1,25-(OH)2D3, suggesting that direct activation of PKC by phorbol esters may make processes required for 1,25-(OH)2D3 induction of differentiation unnecessary. In summary, these data suggest that a primary effect of 1,25-(OH)2D3 on HL-60 cells is to regulate PKC levels, and regulation of c-myc transcription by 1,25-(OH)2D3 is a result of this action.