Changes in the activities of cytidine deaminase during differentiation of HL60 cells induced by 1,25 dihydroxy D3.

The activities of the enzymes cytidine deaminase (CDD), deoxycytidine kinase (dCK), adenosine deaminase (ADA), and purine nucleoside phosphorylase (PNP), have been investigated in the promyelocytic leukemia cell line HL60. The activities of the enzymes corresponded well with that seen in acute myeloid leukemia cells except, that the CDD activity was very low in the HL60 cells. Induction of differentiation in HL60 cells by 1,25 dihydroxy D3 resulted in an increase in CDD from 12 to 247 nmol/h/mg and a decrease in ADA from 1326 to 896 nmol/h/mg, while the activities of dCK, and PNP were unchanged. Retinoic acid, another used inducer of differentiation, gave no changes of the enzyme activities. The increase in CDD activity induced by 1,25 dihydroxy D3 was prevented by inhibition of protein synthesis, whereas inhibition of proliferation of the cells did not abolish the increase of CDD. The changes correspond well with the differences seen between immature and mature myeloid cells. The results may have consequences for the interpretation of results obtained with cytostatics, which are metabolized by the enzymes.