Reprogramming leukemic cells to terminal differentiation by inhibiting specific cyclin-dependent kinases in G(1)

Some tumor cells can be stimulated to differentiate and undergo terminal ce ll division and loss of tumorigenicity. The in vitro differentiation of mur ine erythroleukemia (MEL) cells is a dramatic example of tumor-cell reprogr amming. We found that reentry of MEL cells into terminal differentiation is accompanied by an early transient decline in the activity of cyclin-depend ant kinase (CDK) 2, followed by a decline of CDK6. Later, as cells undergo terminal arrest, CDK2 and CDK4 activities decline. By analyzing stable MEL- cell transfectants containing vectors directing inducible expression of spe cific CDK inhibitors, we show that only inhibitors that block the combinati on of CDK2 and CDK6 trigger differentiation. Inhibiting CDK2 and CDK4 does not cause differentiation. Importantly. we also show that reprogramming thr ough inhibition of CDKs is restricted to G(1) phase of the cell cycle. The results imply that abrogation of normal cell-cycle controls in tumor cells contributes to their inability to differentiate fully and that restoration of such controls in G(1) can lead to resumption of differentiation and term inal cell division. The results also indicate that CDK4 and CDK6 are functi onally distinct and support our hypothesis that the two CDKs regulate cell division at different stages of erythroid maturation.