Myeloid differentiation associated tyrosine protein kinase activity in WEHI-3B murine monomyelocytic leukemia cells

Tyrosine protein kinase activity was examined during the induction of granulocytic differentiation of WEHI-3B murine monomyelocytic leukemia cells by retinoic acid and aclacinomycin A. Tyrosine kinase activity was found to increase throughout the period of induced maturation. The specificity of this increase in enzymatic activity for the differentiated state was demonstrated by the findings that (a) it was independent of the inducer used, and (b) the treatment of a differentiation-resistant subline of this murine leukemia with an inducer did not produce a significant elevation of tyrosine kinase activity. To determine whether tyrosine protein kinase activity was involved in the differentiation process itself or whether it was a product of the mature state, a series of experimental approaches was employed. Kinetic analyses showed that tyrosine protein kinase activity continued to increase beyond the peak in the level of differentiation. In addition, the total cellular protein phosphotyrosine content, measured by immunoblotting and flow cytometric analysis with anti-phosphotyrosine antibodies, did not increase in accord with the elevation of tyrosine kinase activity. Increases in protein phosphotyrosine content, which were dependent upon the length of exposure to the inducing agent, were observed when cultured cells were treated with the phosphotyrosine phosphatase inhibitor, sodium orthovanadate. Thus, the effect of the increasing tyrosine kinase activity in maturing cells appeared to be negated by competing protein phosphotyrosine phosphatase activity. Finally, the inhibitors of tyrosine kinase activity, genistein and PKI-23, did not interfere with the induction of differentiation by retinoic acid. These findings support the concept that myeloid differentiation associated tyrosine protein kinase activity may not be involved in the initiation of the differentiation process itself. This conclusion deviates from previous assumptions, based on earlier work in this laboratory as well as in that of others, that the differentiation associated kinase activity has an essential role in the initiation of the maturation process. An attractive alternative speculation is that this activity may have a functional role in the mature myeloid cell.