Types of nuclear endonuclease activity capable of inducing internucleosomal DNA fragmentation are completely different between human CD34+ cells and their granulocytic descendants.

A hallmark of apoptosis is internucleosomal DNA fragmentation resulting from the activation of endonucleases. We characterized the endonuclease activity of human myeloid cell nuclei that cleaved their own nuclear chromatin to oligonucleosomal length fragments. Polymorphonuclear leukocytes (PMNs) of normal peripheral blood contained both Ca2+/Mg(2+)-dependent and DNase II-like acidic endonuclease activities in their nuclei. Immature myeloid cells of normal bone marrow at various stages of granulocytic maturation had similar nuclease activities. In contrast, a clear difference was shown in the circulating CD34+ cells, in that only Mg(2+)-dependent, Ca(2+)-independent endonuclease activity was detected. Consistent with these findings is the emergence of the Ca2+/Mg(2+)-dependent and acidic endonuclease concomitantly with the disappearance of the Mg(2+)-dependent endonuclease when CD34+ cells were induced to differentiate in vitro toward granulocytes. Leukemic cell lines of all lineages also had Mg(2+)-dependent nuclease activity. Our results suggest an association of the Mg(2+)-dependent endonuclease with hematopoietic progenitor cells and that the relative activities of the nuclear nuclease in human myeloid cells change substantially during granulocytic differentiation.