ASB-2 inhibits growth and promotes commitment in myeloid leukemia cells

In acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL) cells harboring the promyelocytic leukemia retinoic acid receptor alpha (PML-RARalpha) chimeric protein, retinoic acid (RA)-induced differentiation is triggered through a PML-RARalpha signaling resulting in activation of critical target genes. Induced differentiation of APL cells is always preceded by withdrawal from the cell cycle and commitment events leading to terminal differentiation. Here we have identified the human ankyrin repeat-containing protein with a suppressor of cytokine signaling box-2 (ASB-2) cDNA, as a novel RA-induced gene in APL cells. PML-RARalpha strongly enhanced RA-induced ASB-2 mRNA expression. In myeloid leukemia cells, ASB-2 expression induced growth inhibition and chromatin condensation recapitulating early events critical to RA-induced differentiation of APL cells.