1: Int J Mol Med. 2005 Feb;15(2):269-75. Functional analysis of the effect of forced activation of STAT3 on M1 mouse leukemia cells. Yoshida T, Iwamoto T, Adachi K, Yokota T, Miyake Y, Hamaguchi M. Department of Ophthalmology, Nagoya University School of Medicine, Showa-ku, Nagoya 466-8550, Japan. M1 mouse myeloid leukemia cells exhibit growth arrest and differentiation to monocytes/macrophages in response to leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF) stimulation. Although recent studies have demonstrated that STAT3 plays a central role in this process, it is unknown whether STAT3 activation alone is sufficient. To address this issue, we have established M1/STAT3ER cells, where STAT3 is selectively activated by 4-hydroxytamoxifen (4HT). 4HT stimulation did not have any effect on growth and morphology of M1/ STAT3ER cells, and did not induce the down-regulation of mRNA of c-myc and c-myb, which is necessary for M1 cell differentiation. On the other hand, mRNA of jun-B, IRF1 and p19 was increased by 4HT. DNA precipitation assay indicated that both stimulation of LIF and 4HT similarly activated STAT3ER. Introduction of a constitutive active MAP kinase kinase (MEK1) into M1/STAT3ER cells did not induce differentiation either. Together, our present data suggest that signaling other than the activation of STAT3 and MEK1 may be necessary for M1 cell-growth arrest and differentiation, while a set of early genes of LIF are induced by only STAT3 activation. PMID: 15647843 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE] --------------------------------------------------------------- 2: Cancer Res. 2004 Oct 15;64(20):7513-25. Modulation of gene expression in human central nervous system tumors under methionine deprivation-induced stress. Kokkinakis DM, Liu X, Chada S, Ahmed MM, Shareef MM, Singha UK, Yang S, Luo J. The University of Pittsburgh Cancer Institute and the Department of Pathology, Hillman Cancer Institute, Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA. Methionine deprivation imposes a metabolic stress, termed methionine stress, that inhibits mitosis and induces cell cycle arrest and apoptosis. The methionine-dependent central nervous system tumor cell lines DAOY (medulloblastoma), SWB61 (anaplastic oligodendroglioma), SWB40 (anaplastic astrocytoma), and SWB39 (glioblastoma multiforme) were compared with methionine-stress resistant SWB77 (glioblastoma multiforme). The cDNA-oligoarray analysis and reverse transcription-PCR verification indicated common changes in gene expression in methionine-dependent cell lines to include up-regulation/induction of cyclin D1, mitotic arrest deficient (MAD)1, p21, growth arrest and DNA-damage-inducible (GADD)45 alpha, GADD45 gamma, GADD34, breast cancer (BRCA)1, 14-3-3sigma, B-cell CLL/lymphoma (BCL)1, transforming growth factor (TGF)-beta, TGF-beta-induced early response (TIEG), SMAD5, SMAD7, SMAD2, insulin-like growth factor binding protein (IGFBP7), IGF-R2, vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF), TNF-related apoptosis-inducing ligand (TRAIL), TNF-alpha converting enzyme (TACE), TRAIL receptor (TRAIL-R)2, TNFR-related death receptor (DR)6, TRAF interacting protein (I-TRAF), IL-6, MDA7, IL-1B convertase (ICE)-gamma, delta and epsilon, IRF1, IRF5, IRF7, interferon (IFN)-gamma and receptor components, ISG15, p65-NF-kappaB, JUN-B, positive cofactor (PC)4, C/ERB-beta, inositol triphosphate receptor I, and methionine adenosyltransferase II. On the other hand, cyclins A1, A2, B1 and B2, cell division cycle (CDC)2 and its kinase, CDC25 A and B, budding uninhibited by benzimidazoles (BUB)1 and 3, MAD2, CDC28 protein kinase (CKS)1 and 2, neuroepithelial cell transforming gene (NET)1, activator of S-phase kinase (ASK), CDC14B phosphatase, BCL2, TGF-beta activated kinase (TAK)1, TAB1, c-FOS, DNA topoisomerase II, DNA polymerase alpha, dihydrofolate reductase, thymidine kinase, stathmin, and MAP4 were down-regulated. In the methionine stress-resistant SWB77, only 20% of the above genes were affected, and then only to a lesser extent. In addition, some of the changes observed in SWB77 were opposite to those seen in methionine-dependent tumors, including expression of p21, TRAIL-R2, and TIEG. Despite similarities, differences between methionine-dependent tumors were substantial, especially in regard to regulation of cytokine expression. Western blot analysis confirmed that methionine stress caused the following: (a) a marked increase of GADD45alpha and gamma in the wt-p53 cell lines SWB61 and 40; (b) an increase in GADD34 and p21 protein in all of the methionine-dependent lines; and (c) the induction of MDA7 and phospho-p38 in DAOY and SWB39, consistent with marked transcriptional activation of the former under methionine stress. It was additionally shown that methionine stress down-regulated the highly active phosphatidylinositol 3'-kinase pathway by reducing AKT phosphorylation, especially in DAOY and SWB77, and also reduced the levels of retinoblastoma (Rb) and pRb (P-ser780, P-ser795, and P-ser807/811), resulting in a shift in favor of unphosphorylated species in all of the methionine-dependent lines. Immunohistochemical analysis showed marked inhibition of nuclear translocation of nuclear factor kappaB under methionine stress in methionine-dependent lines. In this study we show for the first time that methionine stress mobilizes several defined cell cycle checkpoints and proapoptotic pathways while coordinately inhibiting prosurvival mechanisms in central nervous system tumors. It is clear that methionine stress-induced cytotoxicity is not restricted by the p53 mutational status. PMID: 15492278 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE] --------------------------------------------------------------- 3: J Biol Chem. 2002 Oct 18;277(42):39525-31. Epub 2002 Aug 14. HLA-G transactivation by cAMP-response element-binding protein (CREB). An alternative transactivation pathway to the conserved major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I regulatory routes. Gobin SJ, Biesta P, de Steenwinkel JE, Datema G, van den Elsen PJ. Department of Immunohematology and Blood Transfusion, Leiden University Medical Center, 2333 ZA Leiden, The Netherlands. The expression of HLA-G in extravillous cytotrophoblast cells coincides with a general lack of classical major histocompatibility complex (MHC) class I expression in this tissue. This differential expression of HLA-G and classical HLA class I molecules in trophoblasts suggests a tight transcriptional control of MHC class I genes. Transactivation of the classical MHC class I genes is mediated by two groups of juxtaposed cis-acting elements that can be viewed as regulatory modules. Both modules are divergent in HLA-G, rendering this gene unresponsive to NF-kappaB, IRF1, and class II transactivator (CIITA)-mediated induction pathways. In this study, we searched for alternative regulatory elements in the 1438-bp HLA-G promoter region. HLA-G was not responsive to interferon-alpha (IFNalpha), IFNbeta, or IFNgamma, despite the presence of an upstream ISRE binding IRF1 in vitro. However, the HLA-G promoter contains three CRE/TRE elements with binding affinity for CREB/ATF and Fos/Jun proteins both in vitro and in vivo. In transient transfection assays, it was shown that HLA-G transactivation is regulated by CREB, CREB-binding protein (CBP), and p300. Moreover, immunohistochemical analysis demonstrated that HLA-G is co-expressed with CREB and CBP in extravillous cytotrophoblasts, revealing the in vivo relevance of this transactivation pathway. This implies a unique regulation of HLA-G transcription among the MHC class I genes. PMID: 12183445 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE] --------------------------------------------------------------- 4: Cas Lek Cesk. 2000 Oct 25;139(21):655-9. [Gene expression in white blood cells in chronic myeloid leukemia] [Article in Czech] Bruchova H, Klamova H, Brdicka R. Ustav hematologie a krevni transfuze, Praha. BACKGROUND: The new technologies that have the DNA laboratory over recent years and the general progress in knowledge of the human genome, have allowed the simultaneous observation of the activity of a large number of genes. Chronic myeloid leukemia is characterized with abnormal tyrosine kinase activity of the fused bcr/abl gene, which is most often product of translocation between chromosomes 9 an 22. It is as yet unknown whether this is the only and sufficient cause of the disease, or whether other supporting and co-active abnormalities exist. It is also not yet clear whether an increase of proliferating activity or reduced programmed cell death plays the dominant role. The aim of this study was to make further steps in resolving the question as to which of these hypotheses fits better. METHODS AND RESULTS: Membrane macroarrays (Clontech 7742-1: Human Cancer cDNA Expression Array with 588 gene probes) were used throughout the study, on which cDNA reverse-transcribed from total RNA in turn isolated from peripheral white blood cells and labelled with 32P was hybridized. Cells obtained from 5 patients with confirmed diagnoses by cytogenetic and molecular (bcr/abl) analyses, but who had not yet been treated by chemotherapy, were the source of the material. In some cases mononuclears and granulocytes were also isolated by Ficoll-Paque centrifugation. Radioactivity was detected by autoradiography or by a Phosphorimager (Fujifilm FLA-2000). Comparison with normal gene expression (healthy donor) was made by subtraction using Clontech AtlaImage 1.5 software. Although changes of expression of identical genes were not observed in all of patients examined, the majority of them were concordant. Values at least double those of the controls applied to the activity of c-jun N-terminal kinase, MMP-8, MMP-9, integrin alpha E, integrin beta and PDGF, whereas the expression of ZAP-70, IRF1, MCL-1, STAT 5B, RARA, CDC25B, RPSA, TNFR decreased. Increases of PCNA, MMP-17, CD59, rho G, CRAF1 and PIG7 or decreases of notch, caspase 8, caspase 4, interleukin 6 receptor, rho B and TIMP1 were observed only in some cell samples. CONCLUSIONS: It seems that some maturation processes and transmembrane signalling are blocked, as well as the effectors of apoptosis. On the other hand, the reduced activity of ZAP-70, IRF1 and MCL-1 also indicated that proliferation breaks were weakened. The involvement of both processes-released replication and ineffective apoptosis--was evident; the problem of bcr/abl gene fusion being the necessary first and sufficient step on the way towards developing chronic myeloid leukemia, however, remained unresolved. PMID: 11192763 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE] --------------------------------------------------------------- 5: Mol Cell. 1998 Jan;1(2):277-87. Recruitment of CBP/p300 by the IFN beta enhanceosome is required for synergistic activation of transcription. Merika M, Williams AJ, Chen G, Collins T, Thanos D. Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biophysics, Columbia University, New York, New York 10032, USA. Transcriptional activation of the IFN beta gene in response to virus infection requires the assembly of an enhanceosome, consisting of the transcriptional activators NF-kappa B, IRF1, ATF2/c-Jun, and the architectural protein HMG I(Y). The level of transcription generated by all of these activators is greater than the sum of the levels generated by individual factors, a phenomenon designated transcriptional synergy. We demonstrate that this synergy, in the context of the enhanceosome, requires a new protein-protein interaction domain in the p65 subunit of NF-kappa B. Transcriptional synergy requires recruitment of the CBP/p300 coactivator to the enhanceosome, via a new activating surface assembled from the novel p65 domain and the activation domains of all of the activators. Deletion, substitution, or rearrangement of any one of the activation domains in the context of the enhanceosome decreases both recruitment of CBP and transcriptional synergy. PMID: 9659924 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE] --------------------------------------------------------------- 6: Mol Cell. 1997 Dec;1(1):119-29. The mechanism of transcriptional synergy of an in vitro assembled interferon-beta enhanceosome. Kim TK, Maniatis T. Harvard University, Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Cambridge, Massachusetts 02138, USA. A functional interferon-beta gene enhanceosome was assembled in vitro using the purified recombinant transcriptional activator proteins ATF2/c-JUN, IRF1, and p50/p65 of NF-kappa B. Maximal levels of transcriptional synergy between these activators required the specific interactions with the architectural protein HMG I(Y) and the correct helical phasing of the binding sites of these proteins on the DNA helix. Analyses of the in vitro assembled enhanceosome revealed that the transcriptional synergy is due, at least in part, to the cooperative assembly and stability of the complex. Reconstitution experiments showed that the formation of a stable enhanceosome-dependent preinitiation complex require cooperative interactions between the enhanceosome; the general transcription factors TFID, TFIIA, and TFIIB; and the cofactor USA. These studies provide a direct biochemical demonstration of the importance of the structure and function of natural multicomponent transcriptional enhancer complexes in gene regulation. PMID: 9659909 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE] ---------------------------------------------------------------