Promyelocytic leukemia-specific PML-retinoic acid alpha receptor fusion protein interferes with erythroid differentiation of human erythroleukemia K562 cells

Acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL) is characterized by a t(15;17) chromosomal translocation with breakpoints within the retinoic acid alpha receptor (RAR alpha) gene on 17 and the PML gene, which encodes a putative transcription factor, on 15. A PML-RAR alpha fusion protein is formed as a consequence of the translocation. We show here that expression of the PML-RAR alpha protein in K562 erythroleukemia cells results in a reduced expression of erythroid differentiation markers and a reduced sensitivity to the erythroid differentiative action of heme. Overexpression of RAR alpha, but not of PML, elicited a similar inhibition of K562 erythroid differentiation. These findings indicate that overexpression of either RAR alpha or PML/RAR alpha interferes with erythroid differentiation and support the hypothesis that RAR alpha is involved in the regulation of normal hematopoiesis and alteration of the RAR alpha signaling by PML/RAR alpha is implicated in the promyelocytic leukemogenesis.