Thyroid hormone responsiveness of the L1210 murine leukemia cell line

The presence of saturable and high affinity 3,5,3'-triiodothyronine (T3) binding sites was demonstrated in L1210 murine leukemia cell nuclei. Scatchard analysis revealed one class of receptors for T3 with Ka = 2.187 x 10(9) l/mol and a maximum binding capacity (Bmax) of 3.96 fmol/10(6) cells. The effects of T3 on protein phosphorylation and growth rate of L1210 cells were investigated in a medium containing T3-depleted fetal calf serum. T3 was observed to be effective in enhancing protein phosphorylation (153.06% +/- 5.99 SD) compared to cells grown in the absence of T3 (81.49% +/- 13.50 SD). Moreover, in the presence of high T3 concentration (11.15 nmol/l) T3 was found to significantly increase the cell growth rate. In addition, the T3 receptor-associated alterations during the cell cycle, as measured by flow cytometry, suggest that the presence of T3 receptors becomes evident during the late G1 phase of the cell cycle, and T3 receptor numbers increase during the S phase. These results suggest that in in vitro conditions representing high T3 concentration, the number of L1210 leukemia cells may be increased by T3 via nuclear receptors. The L1210 leukemia cell line may serve as a convenient tool for in vitro studies of nuclear receptors and/or mechanism of action of T3. The binding affinity of T3 receptors is similar to that found in rat hepatocytes or human lymphocytes.