Skip to main content

Thank you for visiting nature.com. You are using a browser version with limited support for CSS. To obtain the best experience, we recommend you use a more up to date browser (or turn off compatibility mode in Internet Explorer). In the meantime, to ensure continued support, we are displaying the site without styles and JavaScript.

  • Correspondence
  • Published:

Monitoring all-trans-retinoic acid-induced differentiation of human acute promyelocytic leukemia NB4 cells by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy

Leukemia volume 17, pages 1670–1674 (2003)Cite this article

TO THE EDITOR

A prominent phenotypic abnormality of human acute myelogenous leukemia is the inability of the cells to differentiate into functional mature cells; instead, the cells are blocked at an early stage of development, remain in the proliferative pool and rapidly accumulate. Acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL) is distinguished from other types of leukemia by a balanced t(15;17) (q22;21) chromosome translocation, distinct morphology and clinical features. It can be effectively treated with all-trans-retinoic acid (ATRA), resulting in suppression of proliferation and terminal granulocytic differentiation.1 ATRA could trigger the degradation of promyelocytic leukemia retinoic acid response-α (PML/RARα) and the reassembly of PML oncogenic domains, which play central roles in leukemogenesis. The gene expression profiles of ATRA treatment were in high accord with APL cell differentiation and proliferation, emerging harmoniously as a balanced functional network.2 It is the first molecular targeted therapy against a causative oncoprotein and the first application of principles of eucaryotic transcription to cancer biology.

This is a preview of subscription content, access via your institution

Access options

Buy this article

  • Purchase on Springer Link
  • Instant access to full article PDF
Buy now

Prices may be subject to local taxes which are calculated during checkout

Figure 1
Figure 2
Figure 3
Figure 4

References

  1. Chomienne C, Ballarini P, Baltitrand N, Amar M, Benard JF, Boivin P et al. Retinoic acid therapy for acute promyelocytic leukemia. Lancet 1989; 23: 746–747.

    Article  Google Scholar 

  2. Liu TX, Zhang JW, Tao J, Zhang RB, Zhang QH, Zhao CJ et al. Gene expression networks underlying retinoic acid-induced differentiation of acute promyelocytic leukemia cells. Blood 2000; 96: 1496–1504.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  3. Jackson M, Sowa MG, Mantsch HH . Infrared spectroscopy: a new frontier in medicine. Biophys Chem 1997; 68: 109–125.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  4. Gasparri F, Muzio M . Monitoring of apoptosis of HL60 cells by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy. Biochem J 2003; 369: 239–248.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  5. Liu KZ, Skultz CP, Johnston JB, Beck FWJ, Al-Katib AM, Mohammad RM et al. Infrared spectroscopic study of bryostatin-1-induced membrane alterations in a CLL cell line. Leukemia 1999; 13: 1273–1280.

    Article  CAS  Google Scholar 

  6. Spremolla G, Benedetti E, Vergamini P, Andreucci MC, Macchia P . An investigation of acute lymphoblastic leukemia (ALL) in children by means of infrared spectroscopy. Part IV. Haematologica 1988; 73: 21–24.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  7. Smolenska-Sym G, Zdebska E, Golaszewska E, Wozniak J, Durzynski T, Maj S et al. Contents of total and protein-bound carbohydrates were low in leukemic leukocytes from patients with acute myelogenous leukemia. Acta Biochim Pol 1998; 45: 361–371.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

  8. Rigas B, Wong PT . Human colon adenocarcinoma cell lines display infrared spectroscopic features of malignant colon tissues. Cancer Res 1992; 52: 84–88.

    CAS  PubMed  Google Scholar 

Download references

Acknowledgements

This work was supported by grants from Tsinghua University 985 Project. The authors would like to thank Dr Zhu CHEN (Rui-jin Hospital, Shanghai Second Medical University) for kindly providing NB4 and NB4-derived MR2 subclone cells.

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Biological Sciences and Biotechnology, Tsinghua University, Beijing, People's Republic of China

    M-J Liu, Z Wang, R-C Wu & Q-Y Wu

  2. Department of Chemistry, Tsinghua University, Beijing, People's Republic of China

    S-Q Sun

Authors
  1. M-J Liu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  2. Z Wang
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  3. R-C Wu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  4. S-Q Sun
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

  5. Q-Y Wu
    View author publications

    You can also search for this author in PubMed Google Scholar

Rights and permissions

Reprints and permissions

About this article

Cite this article

Liu, MJ., Wang, Z., Wu, RC. et al. Monitoring all-trans-retinoic acid-induced differentiation of human acute promyelocytic leukemia NB4 cells by Fourier-transform infrared spectroscopy. Leukemia 17, 1670–1674 (2003). https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.leu.2403019

Download citation

  • Received:

  • Accepted:

  • Published:

  • Issue Date:

  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/sj.leu.2403019

This article is cited by

Search

Advanced search

Quick links