title: Transcriptional activation of the human cytotoxic serine protease gene CSP-B in T lymphocytes.
abstract: The cytotoxic serine protease B (CSP-B) gene is activated during cytotoxic T-lymphocyte maturation. In this report, we demonstrate that the PEER T-cell line (bearing gamma/delta T-cell receptors) accumulates CSP-B mRNA following exposure to 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate (TPA) and N6-2'-O-dibutyryladenosine 3',5'-cyclic monophosphate (bt2cAMP) because of transcriptional activation of the CSP-B gene. TPA and bt2cAMP act synergistically to induce CSP-B expression, since neither agent alone causes activation of CSP-B transcription or mRNA accumulation. Chromatin upstream from the CSP-B gene is resistant to DNase I digestion in untreated PEER cells, but becomes sensitive following TPA-bt2cAMP treatment. Upon activation of PEER cells, a DNase I-hypersensitive site forms upstream from the CSP-B gene within a region that is highly conserved in the mouse. Transient transfection of CSP-B promoter constructs identified two regulatory regions in the CSP-B 5'-flanking sequence, located at positions -609 to -202 and positions -202 to -80. The region from -615 to -63 is sufficient to activate a heterologous promoter in activated PEER cells, but activation is orientation specific, suggesting that this region behaves as an upstream promoter element rather than a classical enhancer. Consensus AP-1, AP-2, and cAMP response elements are found upstream from the CSP-B gene (as are several T-cell-specific consensus elements), but the roles of these elements in CSP-B gene activation have yet to be determined.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Jewish Hospital, Washington University Medical Center, St. Louis, Missouri 63110.
authors.forename: R D
authors.initials: RD
authors.lastname: Hanson
authors.forename: T J
authors.initials: TJ
authors.lastname: Ley
mesh_terms: D001483:Base Sequence; D002460:Cell Line; D005091:Exons; D015971:Gene Expression Regulation, Enzymologic; D006801:Humans; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D015345:Oligonucleotide Probes; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000235:genetics; D015183:Restriction Mapping; D012697:Serine Endopeptidases / Q000235:genetics*; D013602:T-Lymphocytes, Cytotoxic / Q000201:enzymology / Q000276:immunology*; D014158:Transcription, Genetic; D015533:Transcriptional Activation; D014162:Transfection
chemical_list: D015345:Oligonucleotide Probes; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D012697:Serine Endopeptidases