ABSTRACT
<p><b>OBJECTIVE</b>To investigate the roles of mouse erythroid differentiation and denucleation factor (MEDDF), a novel factor cloned in our laboratory recently, in erythroid terminal differentiation.</p><p><b>METHODS</b>Mouse erythroleukemia (MEL) cells were transfected with eukaryotic expression plasmid pcDNA-MEDDF. Then we investigated the changes on characteristics of cell growth by analyzing cells growth rate, mitotic index and colony-forming rate in semi-solid medium. The expressions of c-myc and beta-globin genes were analysed by semi-quantitative RT-PCR.</p><p><b>RESULTS</b>MEL cells transfected with pcDNA-MEDDF showed significant lower growth rate, mitotic index, and colony-forming rate in semi-solid medium (P<0.01). The percentage of benzidine-positive cells was 32.8% after transfection. The expression of beta-globin in cells transfected with pcDNA-MEDDF was 3.43 times higher than that of control (MEL transfected with blank vector, pcDNA3.1), and the expression of c-myc decreased by 66.3%.</p><p><b>CONCLUSIONS</b>MEDDF can induce differentiation of MEL cell and suppress its malignancy.</p>