p21WAF1 expression and growth arrest are induced in both embryonal (RD) and alveolar (RH30) rhabdomyosarcoma cell lines following TPA or MEK/ERK inhibitor (U0126) treatments, whereas myogenic differentiation is induced in RD cells alone.
Treatment of a rhabdomyosarcoma cell line which has a silent, methylated H19 gene with histone deacetylase (HDAC) inhibitors under conditions which gave maximal hyperacetylation of histone 4, both globally and at the H19 gene itself could not reactivate H19 or affect the active Insulin-like Growth Factor 2 (IGF2) gene, but caused clear up-regulation of the Tissue-type Plasminogen Activator (TPA) gene, a non-imprinted gene known to respond to changes in histone acetylation.
Previous studies have shown that human rhabdomyosarcoma cells are induced to differentiate by TPA, in the absence of appreciable alterations of the muscle regulatory genes and their products (1).