In the majority of acute promyelocytic leukemia (APL) cases, translocons produce a promyelocytic leukemia protein-retinoic acid receptor α (PML‑RARα) fusion gene. Studies have reported that neutrophil elastase (NE) cleaves bcr-1-derived PML‑RAα in early myeloid cells, leaving only the nuclear localization signal (NLS) of PML attached to RARα. NLS‑RARα promotes cell growth and inhibits differentiation in response to ATRA. However, the mechanisms by which NLS‑RARα affects cell biological characteristics are yet to be fully elucidated. The present study found that the location of RARαwas altered after it was cleaved by NE. Firstly, NE was overexpressed during the preparation of recombinant plasmid NB‑4/pCMV6‑NE‑Myc to cleave PML‑RARα. The total protein expression levels of myc and NE and expression levels of NLS‑RARα in nucleoprotein were detected by western blotting. Location of NLS‑RARα protein was detected by immunofluorescence and confocal laser scanning. Secondly, a nude mice model was constructed and NE protein, NLS-RARα and RARα protein assays, and the location of NLS‑RARα and RARα proteins were assessed as described. The present results showed that, compared with the control groups, the location of NLS-RARα protein was predominantly detected in the nucleus, whereas RARα was mainly distributed in the cytoplasm. These findings were consistent with those of the nude mice model, and these may be used as a foundation to explain the occurrence mechanism of APL.

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