Regulation of laminin and entactin mRNA levels by retinoic acid and dibutyryl cyclic AMP

Retinoic acid and dibutyryl cAMP induced F9 embryonal carcinoma cells to differentiate to parietal endoderm; the morphological changes were accompanied by the increased synthesis of the basement membrane glycoproteins laminin and entactin. cDNA clones have been isolated for the A (400 kD), B1 (220 kD), and B2 (205 kD) chains of laminin. Northern blot analysis indicated that the A, B1, and B2 chains were encoded by RNA species of 9.8, 6.0, and 8.0 kb, respectively. The kinetics of induction of the laminin mRNAs were studied by dot-blotting dilutions of RNA extracted from F9 cells cultured in retinoic acid and dibutyryl cAMP for increasing amounts of time and hybridizing to /sup 32/P-labeled recombinant plasmids. Very low levels of the A and B chain RNAs were found in uninduced cells, and a large increase occurred between 48 and 72 hr of growth in retinoic acid and dibutyryl cAMP. A cDNA clone was also obtained for entactin, a 150 kD glycoprotein that forms a complex with laminin. Retinoic acid and dibutyryl cAMP treatment also increased the amount of entactin RNA in F9 cells. These results suggested that a common mechanism may exist for the coordinate regulation of the 4 basement membrane protein genesmore » during differentiation.« less