Calmodulin-binding proteins in human Y-79 retinoblastoma and HTB-14 glioma cell lines

The Y-79 human retinoblastoma cell line has been used as a model system for studying differentiation of primitive neuroectodermal cells into either glial-like (glial fibrillary acidic protein positive) or neuron-like (neuron-specific enolase-positive) cells. To determine whether Y-79 retinoblastoma cells express neuronotypic calmodulin-binding proteins, Y-79 cells were either treated with butyrate or dibutyryl cyclic AMP (dbcAMP) in serum-containing medium or were maintained in serum-free media. Using a biotinylated calmodulin blot overlay technique, we found that Y-79 cells treated with dbcAMP or butyrate expressed low levels of membrane-bound calmodulin-binding proteins of 150, 147, 127, and 126 kilodaltons (kDa); butyrate-treated cells also expressed a calmodulin-binding peptide of 135 kDa. Since butyrate treatment of Y-79 cells induces the expression and the secretion of interphotoreceptor retinoid-binding protein (IRBP, 140 kDa), we tested the hypothesis that the calmodulin-binding protein of 135 kDa induced by butyrate treatment was IRBP. Purified bovine IRBP did not bind calmodulin; further, the 135-kDa calmodulin binding protein was not immunoreactive with antisera directed against IRBP. Since dbcAMP and butyrate induce some glial-like characteristics in Y-79 cells, we compared the calmodulin-binding protein pattern in these cells with that seen in human HTB-14 glioma cells. The HTB-14 line did not express calmodulin-binding proteins, even after treatments with agents that induce morphologic change in these cells. Thus, we conclude that Y-79 cells express membrane-bound calmodulin-binding proteins, but in a pattern different from that seen with adult, differentiated neurons or from human HTB-14 glioma cells.