A cell line was established in vitro from a spontaneous myeloid leukemia of SL strain mice. This cell line was cytologically identified as myeloblast, and its normal differentiation appeared to be completely blocked in mass culture. When the line cells were seeded in soft agar with a conditioned medium from normal cells, either macrophages or neutrophil granulocytes appeared from a single clone. The rate of formation of colonies containing differentiated cells always increased with an increase in the concentration of conditioned medium. The conditioned medium from this line cell was not as effective as was that from normal cells in inducing differentiation.

We have found that tissue-type transglutaminase (tTG), also called TGc, TGase2 and Galpha(h), has the activity of protein disulphide isomerase (PDI). We have shown that tTG converts completely reduced/denatured inactive RNase A molecule to the native active enzyme. The PDI activity of tTG was strongly inhibited by bacitracin, which is a frequently used inhibitor of conventional PDI activity. It was substantially inhibited by the simultaneous presence of other potential substrate proteins such as completely reduced BSA, but not by native BSA. This activity was especially high in the presence of GSSG, but not GSH. The addition of GSH to the reaction mixture in the presence of GSSG at a fixed concentration up to at least 200-fold excess did not very substantially inhibit the PDI activity. It is possible that tTG can exert PDI activity in a fairly reducing environment like cytosol, where most of tTG is found. It is quite obvious from the following observations that PDI activity of tTG is catalysed by a domain different from that used for the transglutaminase reaction. Although the alkylation of Cys residues in tTG completely abolished the transglutaminase activity, as was expected, it did not affect the PDI activity at all. This PDI activity did not require the presence of Ca(2+). It was not inhibited by nucleotides including GTP at all, unlike the other activity of tTG.

No abstract

A limited time of contact with a conditioned medium from embryo cells induced phagocytotic activity in a cell line of myeloid leukemia followed by the loss of colony forming and leukemogenic capacity. After two days in a high concentration of the conditioned medium, the colonies showed morphological changes which indicated the differentiation of this line of cells. The differentiation-stimulating factor present i n the conditioned medium was relatively thermolabile, while the growthstimulating factor was highly thermostable. Both factors could pass through a dialysis membrane.

Whole Fusobacterium species, but not F. nucleatum, are common in UC patients and have a role in persistence of colonic inflammation in UC. However, Fusobacterium infection is associated with rather mild clinical phenotypes of UC.