Abstract
Regulation of the metabolism of [3H]25-hydroxyvitamin D3 ([3H]25-(OH)D3) in vitro to material with the characteristics of [3H]24,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 ([3H]24,25-(OH)2D3) has been studied in the human promyelocytic cell line HL60. Synthesis of 24,25-(OH)2D3 was induced in a dose-dependent manner in cells pretreated with 0·1–100 nm 1α,25-dihydroxyvitamin D3 (1α,25-(OH)2D3) for 4 days. This treatment also inhibited cell proliferation and stimulated differentiation to a macrophage phenotype that was characterized by staining for non-specific esterase (NSE) activity. The ability to synthesize [3H]24,25-(OH)2D3 from [3H]25-(OH)D3 and the expression of NSE activity both responded to changes in concentration of 1α,25-(OH)2D3 in the culture medium in a parallel manner. Synthesis of [3H]24,25-(OH)2D3 was linear when the incubation time was between 1 and 8 h and the cell number between 1 and 12×106 cells/incubation. The optimum substrate concentration for its synthesis was 125 nm, giving an apparent Michaelis constant of 360 nm. The identity of the [3H]24,25-(OH)2D3 synthesized by these cells was confirmed by co-chromatography with authentic 24,25-(OH)2D3 on normal-phase and reverse-phase high-performance liquid chromatography systems and by its reaction to sodium-m-periodate. Cells that had been exposed to 100 nm 1α,25-(OH)2D3 for 4 days synthesized 2·17±0·07 (s.e.m.) pmol 24,25-(OH)2D3/106 cells per h. This synthesis was inhibited in a dose-dependent manner over a concentration range of 0·01–1 μm by the drug ketoconazole, an antimycotic imidazole which is a known inhibitor of certain cytochrome P-450 enzyme systems, suggesting that the HL60 25-(OH)D3-24-hydroxylase is also a P-450-dependent enzyme system.