Phorbol ester treatment of two megakaryoblastic cell lines, CMK and UT-7, induces specific protein composition changes with non-coincident time-courses.

The expressions of platelet-specific glycoprotein(GP)s Ib, IIb and IIIa were analyzed in 2 megakaryoblastic cell lines: CMK and UT-7. Phorbol-12 myristate 13-acetate (PMA) treatment of CMK induced expressions of GPs IIb and IIIa that peaked on the 4th day post-treatment, while treated UT-7 cells showed maximal levels of these GPs during the 6-8th days. Antibody staining to detect the formation of GPIb alpha after PMA induction showed the presence of the intact GP in UT-7 and the degraded form in CMK. In UT-7, synthesis of GPIIb mRNA increased on days 4-6 after PMA treatment, in parallel with the increase of GPIIb. PMA increased the cytoskeletal protein (actin and myosin) contents in both lines, but in contrast to the two GPs, the increase in these proteins started immediately after PMA addition to the cells. Cell surface proteins of CMK and UT-7 cells were rapidly modified after PMA induction. Especially notable were the degradations of 93-kDa and 140-kDa proteins that occurred on days 1-2 after PMA treatment. These studies demonstrate that the expression of platelet-specific proteins shows a different time dependency than the increment of cytoskeletal proteins, indicating that the syntheses of these two classes of proteins are most likely induced through different mechanisms.