1.Retinoids induce tissue transglutaminase in NIH-3T3 cells.
Cai D;Ben T;De Luca LM Biochem Biophys Res Commun. 1991 Mar 29;175(3):1119-24.
We report that all-trans and 13-cis-retinoic acid as well as the synthetic compound CH-55 enhance tissue transglutaminase activity as they increase NIH-3T3 cell adhesiveness. The 4-hydroxyphenylretinamide (4-HPR) with low activity in inducing attachment, lectin binding and growth inhibition also fails to induce transglutaminase. Thyroxine (Thy), a compound with a response element common to RA, is inactive. The tumor promoter 12-tetradecanoyl-phorbol-13-acetate (TPA), which increases adhesiveness with different kinetics than RA, failed to enhance tranglutaminase. We conclude that retinoids with biological activity in inducing adhesion, inhibition of growth and increase of lectin binding, are also active in inducing transglutaminase activity.
2.Synthetic retinoids, retinobenzoic acids, Am80, Am580 and Ch55 regulate morphogenesis in chick limb bud.
Tamura K;Kagechika H;Hashimoto Y;Shudo K;Ohsugi K;Ide H Cell Differ Dev. 1990 Oct;32(1):17-26.
The retinobenzoic acids Am80, Am580 and Ch55 are synthetic stable analogs of retinoic acid (RA), and show very strong differentiation-inducing activity in human myelogeneous leukemia cell line HL-60. To examine the effects of these synthetic retinoids on limb pattern formation, AG1-X2 beads containing these retinoids were applied to the anterior margin of stage 19-20 chick wing buds. By implanting the beads with 1 microgram/ml retinoids, normal wings were formed and extra digits 2 or 32 were rarely formed. As the retinoid concentrations increased from 10 micrograms/ml to 100 micrograms/ml duplicated limbs 3234, 43234, 432234, 4334 were progressively produced. At higher concentrations, 1 mg/ml, the wings often truncated, although duplication occurred in some embryos. These synthetic analogs seem to have the same degree of morphogenetic potential as RA, since the activity index of these retinoids was similar to that of RA. Since these synthetic retinoids hardly bind to CRABP (cellular retinoic acid-binding protein), it may be possible that the retinoids and RA may affect limb-pattern formation without the interaction with CRABP. It is known that limb buds cannot develop distal structures when the posterior region including all ZPA (zone of polarizing activity) is removed.
3.Differential effects of synthetic nuclear retinoid receptor-selective retinoids on the growth of human non-small cell lung carcinoma cells.
Sun SY;Yue P;Dawson MI;Shroot B;Michel S;Lamph WW;Heyman RA;Teng M;Chandraratna RA;Shudo K;Hong WK;Lotan R Cancer Res. 1997 Nov 1;57(21):4931-9.
Retinoids are promising agents for cancer chemoprevention and therapy. Nuclear retinoic acid receptors (RARs; RARalpha, -beta, and -gamma) and retinoid X receptors (RXRs; RXRalpha, -beta, and -gamma) are thought to mediate most of retinoids' effects on cell growth and differentiation. Because the majority of human non-small cell lung carcinoma (NSCLC) cell lines are resistant to all-trans-retinoic acid, we searched for more potent retinoids. Therefore, we examined the effects of 37 natural and synthetic retinoids that exhibit specific binding to and transactivation of individual RARs or RXRs on the proliferation of eight human NSCLC cell lines. All of these cells expressed mRNAs of the three RXRs; however, they expressed varying levels of RARalpha and RARgamma, and only three of the eight cell lines expressed RARbeta mRNA. Cellular retinoic acid-binding proteins (CRABPs) I and II were detected in one and three of the eight cell lines, respectively. Only 8 of the 37 retinoids exhibited growth-inhibitory activity (IC50, < 10 microM) against at least two of the eight NSCLC cell lines. The active retinoids included one (TD550) of five RARalpha-selective, one (Ch55) of three RARbeta-selective, three (CD437, CD2325, and SR11364) of six RARgamma-selective, and one (CD271) of four RARbeta/gamma-selective retinoids.