Redistribution of nuclear lamin A is an early event associated with differentiation of human promyelocytic leukemia HL-60 cells

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Abstract
The nuclear lamina of mammalian somatic cells is characterized by the constitutive presence of lamin B polypeptides while the appearance of lamins A and C generally occur during establishment of a differentiated phenotype. We have used antibodies specific to the unique carboxy-terminal domain of lamin A, i.e. distinct from the shared domains of lamins A and C, to study the individual behaviour of lamin A during establishment of a macrophage phenotype in human HL-60 cells. Lamin A was present as a nuclear cap in the majority of undifferentiated cells and it was redistributed to a full peripheral nuclear location very early after induction of differentiation by phorbol esters, even in the presence of a protein synthesis inhibitor. Induction of the cells into a reversible precommitment state by bromodeoxyuridine was accompanied by a similar redistribution of lamin A that however reverted to a cap after removal of inducer. No changes were observed in the uniform peripheral nuclear location of lamin C under all of these conditions. These results strongly suggest that lamin A plays a role in the early events of cell differentiation. Taken together with previous results on the interaction of A-type lamins with chromatin, these findings offer experimental evidence consistent with the proposed role of A-type lamins, and particularly lamin A, in the process of chromatin reorganization that accompanies the expression of a differentiated phenotype.