A new role for C/EBPbeta in acute promyelocytic leukemia

The differentiating properties of retinoic acid (RA) have been used beneficially for the treatment of Acute Promyelocytic Leukemia (APL) for more than a decade. However, the molecular mechanisms of how RA induces APL cell differentiation are still poorly understood. In our previous work, we provided a novel mechanism to explain the unique sensitivity to RA of APL cells. We proposed that C/EBPbeta is an ATRA-dependent PML/RARA target gene and that its activation is critical during ATRA-induced differentiation of APL cells. Here, I discuss how C/EBPbeta could be an important gene in APL pathogenesis.