Effects of okadaic acid and vanadate on TPA-induced monocytic differentiation in human promyelocytic leukemia cell line HL-60

Treatment of HL-60 cells with 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate (TPA) (1-5 nM) induced inhibition of cell growth and the appearance of an adherent monocyte-like cell type in a dose- and time-dependent manner. The extent of TPA-induced monocytic differentiation was found to be markedly reduced by okadaic acid (OA) (35 nM). OA had to be present for the early 12 h during treatment with TPA to reduce the induction of monocytic differentiation. The majority of cells (80%) were non-adherent but morphologically resembled mature myelocytes or granulocytes after treatment with TPA (5 nM) in the presence of OA (35 nM). Vanadate (VD), on the other hand, enhanced the extent of monocytic differentiation induced by low-dose of TPA (1 nM). These results indicated that dephosphorylation by tyrosine protein phosphatase and serine-threonine protein phosphatase may play an important role in the induction of monocytic and granulocytic differentiation.