Reductions in gamma-globin mRNA levels restricted to the cytoplasm of 5-fluorouridine treated K-562 human erythroleukemia cells.

RNA synthesis in K-562 human erythroleukemia cells was markedly curtailed by exposure to the uridine analogue 5-fluorouridine (FUrd). The inhibition of ribosomal RNA synthesis was accompanied by rapid declines in the steady-state levels of several, but not all, mRNAs, including gamma-globin mRNA. In this report, we demonstrate that gamma-globin mRNA species were decreased by as much as 40% within 2 hr of exposure to micromolar concentrations of FUrd. The decline in gamma-globin mRNA occurred at a rate that outstripped the normal rate of degradation of this mRNA by a factor of 25. The decline in cytoplasmic mRNA was not mirrored in the nucleus; northern blotting revealed that pre-mRNA levels were not reduced. Nuclease protection analyses of precursors from FUrd treated and untreated control cells did not reveal any qualitative differences. Thus, the decrease was not accounted for by drug-induced inhibition of new gamma-globin mRNA synthesis or misincorporation but must have been due to an FUrd-induced increase in gamma-globin mRNA degradation. Drug-induced instability of RNA was not a generalized feature of FUrd exposure, since neither beta-actin mRNA nor cytoplasmic rRNA, whose stabilities in untreated cells are similar to that of gamma-globin mRNA, were affected. Furthermore, the instability of gamma-globin mRNA did not decrease globin protein levels, presumably because the stability of the protein was not altered. The mechanism by which specific increased degradation of gamma-globin mRNA occurred is unknown, but it may have been due to the activation of cytoplasmic endonuclease.