Effect of receptor-selective retinoids on growth and differentiation pathways in mouse melanoma cells.

Treatment of B16 mouse melanoma cells with all-trans-retinoic acid (ATRA) results in inhibition of cell proliferation and induction of differentiation. Accompanying these events is an induction of retinoic acid receptor beta (RARbeta) expression, an increase in protein kinase Calpha (PKCalpha) expression, and enhanced activator protein-1 (AP-1) transcriptional activity. These cells express nuclear RARalpha and RARgamma and nuclear retinoid X receptors (RXR) alpha and beta constitutively. We tested the ability of receptor-selective retinoids to induce the biochemical changes found in ATRA-treated melanoma cells and also tested their effectiveness in decreasing anchorage-dependent and -independent growth. The RXR-selective ligand (2E,4E)-6-(5,6,7,8-tetrahydro-3,5,5,8, 8-pentamethyl-2-naphthalenyl)-3,7-dimethyl-2,4,6-octatrienoic acid (SR11246) was most effective at inhibiting anchorage-dependent growth, whereas the RARgamma-selective ligand 6-[(5,6,7, 8-tetrahydro-5,5,8, 8-tetramethyl-2-naphthalenyl)(hydroxyimino)methyl]-2-naphthalen ecarbo xylic acid (SR11254) was most potent at inhibiting anchorage-independent growth. In contrast, 4-(5,6,7,8-tetrahydro-5,5, 8,8-tetramethyl-2-naphthalenecarboxamido)-benzoic acid (Am580), an RARalpha-selective ligand, was the most effective receptor-selective agonist for inducing RARbeta mRNA and increasing the amount of PKCalpha protein. All of the retinoids induced a concentration-dependent increase in AP-1 transcriptional activity, with little difference in effectiveness among the receptor-selective retinoids. A synergistic increase in the amount of PKCalpha was found when an RAR-selective agonist was combined with an RXR-selective agonist. One possible explanation for this result is that an RXR-RAR heterodimer in which both receptors are liganded is required for maximum expression of this critical component of the ATRA-induced differentiation pathway. Our data suggest that synthetic retinoids can activate different growth and differentiation pathways preferentially in B16 melanoma cells, due, most likely, to their ability to activate a different subset of receptors.

Characterization of retinoic acid-induced AP-1 activity in B16 mouse melanoma cells.

Retinoic acid (RA) induces differentiation of B16 mouse melanoma cells, which is accompanied by an increase in protein kinase Calpha (PKCalpha) as well as a selective enrichment of nuclear PKCalpha. We report here that RA also increases AP-1 activity in these cells. Transient transfection of B16 cells with luciferase reporter gene constructs indicated that RA induced a concentration-dependent increase in AP-1 activity. Acute treatment (2 h) of B16 cells with phorbol dibutyrate (PDB) increased AP-1 activity by 10-fold. RA treatment did not change the expression of Jun family members; however, it decreased the expression of c-Fos. In contrast acute PDB treatment induced c-Fos expression, while having little effect on c-Jun. Five DNA-protein complexes were formed with nuclear extracts from B16 cells and an oligonucleotide containing an AP-1 consensus sequence. Several complexes were decreased in cells treated with RA. Conversely, certain complexes were increased in cells acutely treated with PDB. The slowest migrating complexes were shown to contain Fos family members. Down-regulation of PKC inhibited both the acute PDB-induced and the RA-induced increase in AP-1 activity. The selective PKC enzyme inhibitor, bisindolylmaleimide, reduced PDB-stimulated AP-1 activity, but enhanced RA-induced AP-1 activity. These results together with our previous studies suggest the intriguing possibility that PKC protein, but not enzyme activity, may be required for RA-induced AP-1 activity.