Figure 1. Human leukemia cell lines express functional SexH receptors.

Expression of SexH (pituitary and gonadal) receptors was detected in purified mRNA samples from various myeloid leukemia cell lines (A) as well as different B- and T-lymphoid leukemia cell lines (C) by reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT–PCR). Samples with water only instead of cDNA were used as negative controls. Representative agarose gels of the RT-PCR amplicons obtained are shown. The effect of pituitary and gonadal SexHs on phosphorylation of p42/44 MAPK and AKT^ser473 intracellular pathway proteins in both myeloid (B) and lymphoid (D) leukemia cell lines was investigated. These cells (2 × 10⁶ cells/mL) were starved for 5 h in RPMI containing 0.5% BSA in an incubator and afterwards stimulated for 5 min with FSH (20 IU/mL), LH (20 IU/mL), prolactin (5 μg/mL), estradiol (1 μM), progesterone (1 μM), or androgen (danazol; 4 mg/mL). The experiment was carried out twice with similar results, and representative blots are shown. FSHR, follicle-stimulating hormone receptor; LHR, luteinizing hormone/choriogonadotropin receptor; PRLR, prolactin receptor; ESRα, estrogen receptor alpha; ESRβ, estrogen receptor beta; PGR, progesterone receptor; AR, androgen receptor; SexHs, sex hormones.