Na+/H+ antiporter gene expression increases during retinoic acid-induced granulocytic differentiation of HL60 cells.

During differentiation of human leukemic HL60 cells into granulocytes, sustained increases in intracellular pH and Na+/H+ antiporter activity have been observed. In the present study we report that retinoic acid (RA)-induced granulocytic differentiation of HL60 cells causes an approximately 18-fold increase in the steady-state mRNA levels for the Na+/H+ antiporter. This was due to an increase in the rate of Na+/H+ antiporter gene transcription as measured by nuclear run-on analysis. Antiporter protein synthesis increased by seven-fold during RA-induced granulocytic differentiation of HL60 cells as measured by immunoprecipitation of 35S-methionine-labeled proteins with the RP1-c28 Na+/H+ antiporter antibody. No increase in antiporter mRNA was observed in response to etretinate, an analogue of retinoic acid, which did not induce differentiation. Thus, Na+/H+ antiporter gene expression is associated with RA-induced granulocytic differentiation of HL60 cells. The present findings and our previous data (Rao et al., 1991) demonstrate that Na+/H+ antiporter gene expression is a generalized feature of HL60 cell differentiation.