Role of the histone deacetylase complex in acute promyelocytic leukaemia. Academic Article uri icon

Overview

abstract

  • Non-liganded retinoic acid receptors (RARs) repress transcription of target genes by recruiting the histone deacetylase complex through a class of silencing mediators termed SMRT or N-CoR. Mutant forms of RARalpha, created by chromosomal translocations with either the PML (for promyelocytic leukaemia) or the PLZF (for promyelocytic leukaemia zinc finger) locus, are oncogenic and result in human acute promyelocytic leukaemia (APL). PML-RARalpha APL patients achieve complete remission following treatments with pharmacological doses of retinoic acids (RA); in contrast, PLZF-RARalpha patients respond very poorly, if at all. Here we report that the association of these two chimaeric receptors with the histone deacetylase (HDAC) complex helps to determine both the development of APL and the ability of patients to respond to retinoids. Consistent with these observations, inhibitors of histone deacetylase dramatically potentiate retinoid-induced differentiation of RA-sensitive, and restore retinoid responses of RA-resistant, APL cell lines. Our findings suggest that oncogenic RARs mediate leukaemogenesis through aberrant chromatin acetylation, and that pharmacological manipulation of nuclear receptor co-factors may be a useful approach in the treatment of human disease.

publication date

  • February 19, 1998

Research

keywords

  • Histone Deacetylases
  • Leukemia, Promyelocytic, Acute
  • Nuclear Proteins
  • Saccharomyces cerevisiae Proteins

Identity

Scopus Document Identifier

  • 0032546017

Digital Object Identifier (DOI)

  • 10.1038/35895

PubMed ID

  • 9486654

Additional Document Info

volume

  • 391

issue

  • 6669