mRNA species regulated during the differentiation of HL-60 cells to macrophages and neutrophils.

Using cDNA clone banks from differentiated and undifferentiated HL-60 promyelocytic leukemia cells, we have selected clones for genes which are regulated during this differentiation. Regulation of the corresponding mRNAs in HL-60 cells during both monocytic and neutrophilic differentiation was measured for 21 of these clones. The levels of mRNA hybridizing to some of these clones changed by more than 100-fold during differentiation. Unlike erythropoiesis or myogenesis, in which the synthesis of a few new proteins is synchronously regulated, mRNAs in differentiating HL-60 cells are asynchronously regulated, suggesting a complex series of regulatory events. About half of these regulation-selected clones contained repeat sequences, including both Alu and novel repeat families. Most of the regulated genes are members of extensive gene families.