title: Activation of the IL-2 gene promoter by HTLV-I tax involves induction of NF-AT complexes bound to the CD28-responsive element.
abstract: The tax gene product of the type I human T-cell leukemia virus (HTLV-I) is a potent transcriptional activator of various growth-related cellular genes, including that encoding interleukin-2 (IL-2). Tax activation of many of these target genes appears to be mediated by the NF-kappa B/Rel and CREB/ATF family of cellular transcription factors. However, the mechanism by which Tax transactivates the IL-2 gene remains unclear. In the present study, we demonstrate that neither NF-kappa B/Rel nor CREB/ATF is sufficient for Tax-mediated activation of the IL-2 promoter. Two novel nuclear protein complexes are induced by Tax and specifically bind to an IL-2 gene enhancer, the CD28-responsive element (CD28RE). Immunobiochemical analyses suggest that these DNA binding complexes contain at least two members of the nuclear factor of activated T cells, NF-ATp and NF-ATc. However, the CD28 binding NF-AT complexes do not contain Jun and Fos family proteins that have been proposed to serve as NF-AT partners in the activation of the IL-2 NF-AT motif. Transient transfection studies demonstrate that the in vivo expressed NF-ATp binds to the CD28RE probe and enhances Tax-mediated activation of this critical IL-2 enhancer. We demonstrate further that binding of NF-AT to CD28RE is critical for Tax activation of the IL-2 promoter. Together, these results suggest a novel mechanism of Tax-mediated activation of the IL-2 gene, which involves the induction of NF-AT-containing CD28RE binding complexes.
authors.affiliation: Department of Microbiology and Immunology, Pennsylvania State University College of Medicine, Hershey Medical Center, PA 17033, USA.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Good
authors.forename: S B
authors.initials: SB
authors.lastname: Maggirwar
authors.forename: S C
authors.initials: SC
authors.lastname: Sun
mesh_terms: D051696:Activating Transcription Factors; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D001665:Binding Sites; D001798:Blood Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D018106:CD28 Antigens / Q000378:metabolism; D002460:Cell Line; D017362:Cyclic AMP Response Element-Binding Protein / Q000378:metabolism; D015342:DNA Probes; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000235:genetics; D004742:Enhancer Elements, Genetic; D016356:Gene Products, tax / Q000502:physiology*; D015368:Human T-lymphotropic virus 1 / Q000502:physiology*; D006801:Humans; D007376:Interleukin-2 / Q000235:genetics*; D051379:Mice; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016328:NF-kappa B / Q000378:metabolism; D050778:NFATC Transcription Factors; D009687:Nuclear Proteins; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic; D011485:Protein Binding; D011518:Proto-Oncogene Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D015398:Signal Transduction; D051841:Transcription Factor RelB; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D015533:Transcriptional Activation; D014162:Transfection; D014407:Tumor Cells, Cultured
chemical_list: D051696:Activating Transcription Factors; D001798:Blood Proteins; D018106:CD28 Antigens; D017362:Cyclic AMP Response Element-Binding Protein; D015342:DNA Probes; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; D016356:Gene Products, tax; D007376:Interleukin-2; D016328:NF-kappa B; D050778:NFATC Transcription Factors; D009687:Nuclear Proteins; D011518:Proto-Oncogene Proteins; C497593:RELB protein, human; C497594:Relb protein, mouse; D014157:Transcription Factors; D051841:Transcription Factor RelB