T. Yamada et al., Function of 90-kDa heat shock protein in cellular differentiation of humanembryonal carcinoma cells, IN VITRO-AN, 36(2), 2000, pp. 139-146
Heat shock proteins (HSPs) have been recognized as molecules that maintain
cellular homeostasis during changes in the environment. Here we report that
HSP90 functions not only in stress responses but also in certain aspects o
f cellular differentiation. We found that HSP90 showed remarkably high expr
ession in undifferentiated human embryonal carcinoma (EC) cells, which Here
subsequently dramatically down-regulated during in vitro cellular differen
tiation, following retinoic acid (RA) treatment, at the protein level. Surp
risingly, heat shock treatment also triggered the clown-regulation of HSP90
within 48 h at the protein level. Furthermore, the heat treatment induced
cellular differentiation into neural cells. This down-regulation of HSP90 b
y heat treatment was shifted to an up-regulation pattern after cellular dif
ferentiation in response to RA treatment. In order to clarify the functions
of HSP90 in cellular differentiation, we conducted various experiments, in
cluding overexpression of HSP90 via gene transfer. We showed that the RA-in
duced differentiation of EC cells into a neural cell lineage was inhibited
by overexpression of the HSP90 alpha or -beta isoform via the gene transfer
method. On the other hand, the overexpression of HSP90 beta alone impaired
cellular differentiation into trophoectoderm. These results show that down
-regulation of HSP90 is a physiologically critical event in the differentia
tion of human EC cells and that specific HSP90 isoforms may be involved in
differentiation into specific cell lineages.