Expression of G alpha 16, a G-protein alpha subunit specific for hematopoiesis in acute leukemia

G-proteins are essential in signal transduction pathways. A G-protein alpha subunit termed G alpha 16 was found to be exclusively expressed in hematopoietic cell lines. In cells derived from patients, G alpha 16 expression has been detected in progenitor- and pre-B ALL cells and also in peripheral blood stem cells (PBSC). In this study, we analyzed G alpha 16 expression using a RT-PCR technique by testing elutriated blood cells from normal donors, PBSC from breast cancer patients and bone marrow or peripheral blood cells from acute leukemia patients. Both of two ALL patients and 15/16 AML patients expressed G alpha 16. In elutriation experiments, G alpha 16 expression was found in fractions containing the highest number of precursor cells but was absent in mature T and B cell fractions. In addition, CD34-enriched PBSC were positive for G alpha 16 expression. Further in vitro experiments using the cell line KG1 showed that G alpha 16 expression was not affected by the growth inhibiting hemoregulatory peptide pEEDCK which has a sequence homology present within G alpha 16. Taken together, these data demonstrate that G alpha 16 is expressed in various normal and malignant hematopoietic progenitors but not in their differentiated counterparts. G alpha 16 could play a vital role in signal transduction pathways controlling proliferation in early normal and malignant hematopoiesis.