Proteome and transcriptome analysis of retinoic acid-induced differentiation of human acute promyelocytic leukemia cells, NB4

Acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL) is characterized by a translocation t(15:17) that fuses the retinoic acid receptor gene with the promyelocytic gene, which blocks differentiation to normal granulocytes. NB4 cells, derived from human acute promyelocytic leukemia, display this genotype and phenotype. All trans-retinoic acid (ATRA) induces differentiation of NB4 cell cultures in vitro and APL in vivo, although resistance to differentiation therapy frequently develops. To identify genes involved in differentiation, we compared gene expression at the mRNA and protein levels using microarray analyses and two-dimensional (2D) difference gel electrophoresis (DIGE), plus MALDI-TOF-TOF mass spectrometry. Differentially expressed transcripts were identified using oligonucleoticle-based microarrays with targets representing almost 14 000 genes. Real time PCR was performed on a subset of genes whose products were shown to be differentially expressed using proteomic and/or genomic approaches. Our analyses identified 46 genes that were differentially expressed in NB4 +/- ATRA; 22 were identified using 2D-DIGE and 24 using microarray analysis. All but four of these genes were expressed at higher levels in differentiated cells, and several controlled cell structure (internal and cytoskelatal) or signal transduction. We observed that proteome analysis with DIGE and silver-stained 2D gel electrophoresis analyses revealed significant differences between the two measurement approaches. Furthermore, our data showed significant discordance between gene expression at the protein and transcript levels.