Cell differentiation and the multiple drug resistance phenotype in human erythroleukemic cells

•PMA not induces differentiation to megakaryocytes in Lucena cells.•Alox-5 gene is suggested to be related to differentiation erythroleukemic cells.•Firsthand Alox-5, Mdr1, Nanog, Oct-4 and Sox-2 genes expression in FEPS cells was seen.•Oct-4 and Sox-2 gene expression is similar in MDR cell lines.•Alox-5 gene is expressed reversed to Mdr1 gene in erythroleukemic cell lines.

The gene expression of Oct-4, a transcription factor and hematopoietic stem cell marker, is higher in Lucena lines, which is MDR, and the gene Alox-5 has also been implicated in the differentiation of some cell lines. The aim of this study was to compare the response to PMA-induced differentiation in MDR and non-MDR cells. We observed the differentiation to megakaryocytes in the K562 cell line, which is non-MDR. The expression of Alox-5 and Nanog genes was downregulated and that of Mdr-1 was upregulated in K562 cells. The Lucena cell line contained a higher number of megakaryocytes than the non-MDR, but this number was not altered by PMA, as well as Mdr-1 gene expression. However, Alox-5 expression was downregulated. Alox-5, Mdr-1, Nanog, Oct-4 and Sox-2 basal expression was also evaluated in the K562, Lucena and FEPS (also MDR) cell lines. The transcription factors gene expression was similar in MDR cell lines. The expression of Alox-5 was higher in the non-MDR cell line, while FEPS had the lowest expression of this gene. The opposite pattern was observed for Mdr-1 gene expression. These results suggest that the Alox-5 gene might play a role in the differentiation of these cell lines.