We have studied the expression of the c-jun gene during dimethyl-sulfo
xide (DMSO) induced differentiation of Friend erythroleukemia (F-MEL)
cells. No expression of c-jun was detected in a differentiation-compet
ent F-MEL cell line (745A) either before or after treatment with DMSO.
By contrast, c-jun expression was constitutive in a F-MEL cell line (
TFP10) resistant to DMSO-induced differentiation and increased with DM
SO. We have investigated the possible role of c-jun in conferring this
resistance by stably transfecting either sense or antisense c-jun con
structs into both differentiation-sensitive 745A and defective TFP10 c
ell lines. Inhibition of c-jun expression by antisense transcripts in
the TFP10 cells restored their ability to undergo erythroid differenti
ation when exposed to DMSO while expression of junB or junD antisense
vectors failed to do so. In addition, c-jun overexpression in the 745A
cells resulted in decreased DMSO-induced differentiation. These resul
ts indicate a correlation between the level of c-jun expression and th
e ability of F-MEL cells to undergo DMSO-induced differentiation and s
uggest that c-jun may be an important negative regulator in this proce
ss.