Segregation of megakaryocytic or erythroid cells from a megakaryocytic leukemia cell line (JAS-R) by adhesion during culture

Adhesion is one of the important biologic characteristics of leukemic cells. We previously reported a new megakaryocytic–erythroid cell line, JAS-R. In this study, JAS-R cells were segregated into two types by the differences of attachment to culture dishes. One type (designated as JAS-RAD cells) adhered to the substratum of the culture dishes, while the other (JAS-REN cells) grew as a single-cell suspension. Adhesion of JAS-RAD was inhibited by treatment with RGDS oligopeptide. Flow cytometric analysis revealed that JAS-RAD cells had high expression of CD41a and CD61 versus low CD235a expression, and JAS-REN showed low expression of CD41a, and CD61, and high CD235a. The two phenotypes were reciprocally exchangeable by selecting adherent or suspended cells from each type of culture. Microarray analysis and RT-PCR revealed that JAS-RAD cells expressed four major α-granule genes and JAS-REN cells expressed β-globin. Interestingly, erythropoietin was only secreted by JAS-RAD cells. With regard to transcription factors, it was shown that GFI1, FLI1 and RUNX1 were strongly expressed in JAS-RAD cells while GATA1, FOG1 and NFE2 were equally expressed by both types. These findings indicate that adhesion via integrins is related to the phenotypic shift of JAS-R cells between megakaryocytic and erythroid lineages.