Overexpression of the skNAC gene in human rhabdomyosarcoma cells enhances their differentiation potential and inhibits tumor cell growth and spreading

Skeletal and heart muscle-specific variant of the alpha subunit of nascent polypeptide complex (skNAC) is exclusively present in striated muscle cells. During skeletal muscle cell differentiation, skNAC expression is strongly induced, suggesting that the protein might be a regulator of the differentiation process. Rhabdomyosarcoma is a tumor of skeletal muscle origin. Since there is a strong inverse correlation between rhabdomyosarcoma cell differentiation status and metastatic potential, we analyzed skNAC expression patterns in a set of rhabdomyosarcoma cell lines: Whereas RD/12 and RD/18 cells showed a marked induction of skNAC gene expression upon the induction of differentiation—similarly as the one seen in nontransformed myoblasts—skNAC was not induced in CCA or Rh30 cells. Overexpressing skNAC in CCA and Rh30 cells led to a reduction in cell cycle progression and cell proliferation accompanied by an upregulation of specific myogenic differentiation markers, such as Myogenin or Myosin Heavy Chain. Furthermore, in contrast to vector-transfected controls, a high percentage of the cells formed long, Myosin Heavy Chain-positive, multinucleate myotubes. Consistently, soft agar assays revealed a drop in the metastatic potential of skNAC-overexpressing cells. Taken together, these data indicate that reconstitution of skNAC expression can enhance the differentiation potential of rhabdomyosarcoma cells and reduces their metastatic potential, a finding which might have important therapeutic implications.