Cloning and antisense oligodeoxynucleotide inhibition of a human homolog of cdc2 required in hematopoiesis

Yaron Lapidot-Lifson, Deborah Patinkin, Catherine A. Prody, Gal Ehrlich, Shlomo Seidman, Revital Ben-Aziz, Fritz Benseler, Fritz Eckstein, Haim Zakut, Hermona Soreq

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

79 Scopus citations

Abstract

Mechanisms triggering the commitment of pluripotent bone marrow stem cells to differentiated lineages such as mononuclear macrophages or multinucleated megakaryocytes are still unknown, although several lines of evidence suggested correlation between cholinergic signaling and hematopoietic differentiation. We now present cloning of a cDNA coding for CHED (cholinesterase-related cell division controller), a human homolog of the Schizosaccharomyces pombe cell division cycle 2 (cdc2)-like kinases, universal controllers of the mitotic cell cycle. Library screening, RNA blot hybridization, and direct PCR amplification of cDNA reverse-transcribed from cellular mRNA revealed that CHED mRNA is expressed in multiple tissues, including bone marrow. The CHED protein includes the consensus ATP binding and phosphorylation domains characteristic of kinases, displays 34-42% identically aligned amino acid residues with other cdc2-related kinases, and is considerably longer at its amino and carboxyl termini. An antisense oligodeoxynucleotide designed to interrupt CHED's expression (AS-CHED) significantly reduced the ratio between CHED mRNA and actin mRNA within 1 hr of its addition to cultures, a reduction that persisted for 4 days. AS-CHED treatment selectively inhibited megakaryocyte development in murine bone marrow cultures but did not prevent other hematopoietic pathways, as evidenced by increasing numbers of mononuclear cells. An oligodeoxynucleotide blocking production of the acetylcholine-hydrolyzing enzyme, butyrylcholinesterase, displayed a similar inhibition of megakaryocytopoiesis. In contrast, an oligodeoxynucleotide blocking production of the human 2Hs cdc2 homolog interfered with cellular proliferation without altering the cell-type composition of these cultures. Therefore, these findings strengthen the link between cholinergic signaling and cell division control in hematopoiesis and implicate both CHED and cholinesterases in this differentiation process.

Original languageEnglish
Pages (from-to)579-583
Number of pages5
JournalProceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
Volume89
Issue number2
StatePublished - 1992

Keywords

  • Antisense phosphorothioate oligodeoxynucleotides
  • Butyrylcholinesterase
  • Cholinergic signaling
  • Control of cell division
  • Megakaryocytopoiesis

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