Cyclic-AMP-induced c-fos expression and its relevance to differentiation of a transformed mast cell line

The effects of cyclic AMP on expression of the oncogenes c-myc, c-myb and c-fos in murine P815 mastocytoma cells were examined in relation to growth and differentiation. Induction of differentiation in mastocytoma cells by cyclic AMP was accompanied by a rapid increase in c-fos expression. Cyclic AMP induced stable expression of c-fos mRNA by increasing c-fos transcription 4-5-fold and slightly increasing the stability of c-fos mRNA. However, a high level of c-fos expression was not essential for differentiation of two temperature sensitive-mutant P815 cell lines, as c-fos mRNA did not increase in differentiating temperature-sensitive P815 cells. These results do not support an essential role for c-fos expression in the differentiation of mast cells. Although c-myc expression was lower after growth arrest by cyclic AMP, this decrease did not correlate with growth inhibition by cyclic AMP, since c-myc expression decreased only after cells had started to arrest in G1 phase.