title: Identification of the RNA chaperone activity of recombinant human tumor necrosis factor alpha in vitro.
abstract: RNA chaperones are defined as proteins that aid in the process of RNA folding by processing misfolding or by resolving misfolded structures. Although RNA chaperones are ubiquitous and abundant in all living organisms and viruses, there are no any reports that a cytokine has such RNA chaperone activity. Here, we demonstrate for the first time that recombinant human tumor necrosis factor alpha (rhTNF-alpha), a well-known cytokine, has RNA chaperone activity in vitro. rhTNF-alpha binds random 68 nt RNAs strongly at the minimal concentration of 10 microM with a broad sequence specificity. Our results also show that rhTNF-alpha facilitates annealing and strand exchange, and promotes the cleavage of a 17-nucleotide substrate S by hammerhead ribozyme HH16. The role of TNF-alpha as an RNA chaperone in vivo is not clear, but we propose that TNF-alpha may play an important role as an RNA chaperone during the process of some infectious and inflammatory diseases.
authors.affiliation: Beijing Institute of Basic Medical Sciences, Beijing 100850, PR China.
authors.forename: Guojun
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Cao
authors.forename: Guang
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Yang
authors.forename: Zhaohui
authors.initials: Z
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Xuemei
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Jie
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Dajin
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Nongle
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Liu
authors.forename: Hongmei
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Ding
authors.forename: Ming
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Fan
authors.forename: Beifen
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Shen
authors.forename: Ningsheng
authors.initials: N
authors.lastname: Shao
mesh_terms: D001483:Base Sequence; D001665:Binding Sites; D006801:Humans; D018832:Molecular Chaperones / Q000737:chemistry*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D011485:Protein Binding; D012313:RNA / Q000737:chemistry; D016337:RNA, Catalytic / Q000737:chemistry*; D016601:RNA-Binding Proteins / Q000737:chemistry*; D011994:Recombinant Proteins / Q000737:chemistry; D012680:Sensitivity and Specificity; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha / Q000737:chemistry*
chemical_list: D018832:Molecular Chaperones; D016337:RNA, Catalytic; D016601:RNA-Binding Proteins; D011994:Recombinant Proteins; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha; C427204:hammerhead ribozyme; D012313:RNA