Alcohol dehydrogenase 3 transcription associates with proliferation of human oral keratinocytes

Gene expression underlying cellular growth and differentiation is only partly understood. This study analyzed transcript levels of the formaldehyde-metabolizing enzyme alcohol dehydrogenase 3 (ADH3) and various growth and differentiation-related genes in human oral keratinocytes. Culture of confluent cells both with and without fetal bovine serum inhibited colony-forming efficiency and induced a squamous morphology. Confluency alone decreased the transcript levels of ADH3, the proliferation markers cell division cycle 2 (CDC2) and proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA), and the basal cell marker cytokeratin 5 (K5), but increased transcripts for the suprabasal differentiation markers involucrin (INV) and small proline-rich protein 1B (SPR1). These changes were variably influenced by serum, i.e., loss of CDC2 and PCNA was inhibited, loss of K5 promoted, increase of SPR1 transcripts inhibited, and increase of INV promoted. The extent and onset of the effects implied that ADH3 transcription serves as a proliferation marker and that confluency with or without serum exposure can serve to selectively analyze proliferative and differentiated cellular states.