Sodium butyrate/retinoic acid costimulation induces apoptosis-independent growth arrest and cell differentiation in normal and ras-transformed seminal vesicle epithelial cells unresponsive to retinoic acid

Retinoic acid (RA) and sodium butyrate (NaB) are regulators of cell growth and differentiation. We studied their effect on normal (SVC1) or v-Ki-ras-t ransformed (Ki-SVC1) rat seminal vesicle (SV) epithelial cell lines. The tr eatment of these cells with 10(-7) M RA did not produce significant changes in the morphological and biochemical parameters analyzed. When RA was used in combination with 2 mM NaB, the treatment induced substantial morphologi cal changes, apoptosis-independent growth arrest, up-regulation of tissue t ransglutaminase (tTGase), and downregulation of beta and gamma RA receptor (RAR) mRNA expression. The same cells did not express RAR alpha either befo re or after NaB/RA treatment. A similar treatment did not change the amount of mRNA coding for the protein SV-IV (a typical differentiation marker of the SV epithelium) in normal or ras-transformed cells nor the level of v-Ki -ras mRNA in Ki-SVC1 cells. These findings suggest that a defective RA/RARs signaling pathway is probably the biochemical condition that underlies the unresponsiveness to RA of our in vitro culture system, and indirectly poin ts to the possibility that the NaB/RA-induced effects were brought about by a cooperation at the transcription level between the histone deacetylase i nhibitory activity of NaB and the ability of RA/RAR to modulate the express ion of various genes involved in the control of cell growth and differentia tion.