c-Myc plays a role in cellular susceptibility to death receptor-mediated and chemotherapy-induced apoptosis in human monocytic leukemia U937 cells.

Human monocytic leukemia U937 cells readily undergo apoptosis when they are treated with TNF-alpha, anti-Fas antibody and anticancer drugs such as etoposide and Ara-C. To study the mechanism of apoptosis, we developed a novel apoptosis-resistant variant, UC, from U937 cells. The UC cells showed resistance to apoptosis induced by TNF-alpha, anti-Fas antibody, etoposide and Ara-C. Somatic cell hybridization between U937 and UC showed that apoptosis-resistance to TNF-alpha in UC was genetically recessive and resistance to etoposide was dominant, suggesting that UC has at least two different mutations functionally involved in apoptosis. Mechanistic analysis revealed that UC cells expressed reduced amounts of c-Myc. Transfection of the c-myc gene into UC cells restored the sensitivity of the cells to undergo apoptosis induced by TNF-alpha and anti-Fas, which attributes apoptosis-resistance in this circumstance to the reduced expression of c-Myc. On the other hand, c-myc transfection into UC cells could not restore their sensitivity to etoposide- and Ara-C-induced apoptosis, arguing against the role of c-myc in chemotherapy-induced apoptosis. However, treating the parental U937 cells with antisense oligonucleotides designed to reduce c-Myc expression rendered the cells resistant to etoposide-induced as well as to TNF-alpha-induced apoptosis. These results indicate that the reduced expression of c-Myc in UC is strongly associated with the resistance to etoposide-induced apoptosis. Our finding that c-myc transfection into UC could not restore the sensitivity to etoposide-induced apoptosis, suggests UC could have a second mutation that confers resistance to etoposide-induced apoptosis in a genetically dominant manner. Taken together, our present results indicate that c-Myc plays a role in cellular susceptibility to death receptor-mediated and chemotherapy-induced apoptosis.