REGULATION BY CA2+-DSRNA OF THE PROLIFERATION AND TERMINAL DIFFERENTIATION OF HUMAN FIBROBLASTS AND HELA-CELLS

Ca2+-Complexes of dsRNA, poly(dA), poly(dT), and low-molecular-weight yeast RNA have a rather pronounced mitogenic effect on human fibroblasts at early stages of fibroblast reproduction in culture. In later stages of cell culture, Ca2+-dsRNA stimulated terminal differentiation, inducing the synthesis of a group of proteins characteristic of the postmitotic population of human fibroblasts that had undergone terminal differentiation. Ca2+-dsRNA had a stimulating effect on the transcription of c-fos and c-jun genes in fibroblasts and HeLa-S-3.