1: J Virol. 2005 Apr;79(7):4246-56. Silencing of integrated human papillomavirus type 18 oncogene transcription in cells expressing SerpinB2. Darnell GA, Antalis TM, Rose BR, Suhrbier A. Queensland Institute of Medical Research, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Queensland, Australia. The serine protease inhibitor SerpinB2 (PAI-2), a major product of differentiating squamous epithelial cells, has recently been shown to bind and protect the retinoblastoma protein (Rb) from degradation. In human papillomavirus type 18 (HPV-18)-transformed epithelial cells the expression of the E6 and E7 oncoproteins is controlled by the HPV-18 upstream regulatory region (URR). Here we illustrate that PAI-2 expression in the HPV-18-transformed cervical carcinoma line HeLa resulted in the restoration of Rb expression, which led to the functional silencing of transcription from the HPV-18 URR. This caused loss of E7 protein expression and restoration of multiple E6- and E7-targeted host proteins, including p53, c-Myc, and c-Jun. Rb expression emerged as sufficient for the transcriptional repression of the URR, with repression mediated via the C/EBPbeta-YY1 binding site (URR 7709 to 7719). In contrast to HeLa cells, where the C/EBPbeta-YY1 dimer binds this site, in PAI-2- and/or Rb-expressing cells the site was occupied by the dominant-negative C/EBPbeta isoform liver-enriched transcriptional inhibitory protein (LIP). PAI-2 expression thus has a potent suppressive effect on HPV-18 oncogene transcription mediated by Rb and LIP, a finding with potential implications for prognosis and treatment of HPV-transformed lesions. PMID: 15767426 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE] --------------------------------------------------------------- 2: Int J Oncol. 2005 Jan;26(1):259-66. YY-1 and c-Jun transcription factors participate in the repression of the human involucrin promoter. Alvarez-Salas LM, Benitez-Hess ML, Dipaolo JA. Laboratorio de Terapia Genica, Departamento de Genetica y Biologia Molecular, Centro de Investigacion y de Estudios Avanzados, Mexico DF 07360, Mexico. lalvarez@mail.cinvestav.mx The human involucrin gene, which encodes a precursor of the keratinocyte cornified layer, is strongly expressed in response to differentiation stimuli. Earlier studies suggested that YY1 and components of the AP-1 family might participate in the silencing of involucrin in proliferating keratinocytes. This study shows that overexpression of either YY1 or c-Jun represses transcription of the human involucrin gene in multiplying keratinocytes. Transient overexpression and site-directed mutagenesis experiments of the involucrin 5'-non-coding region (5'-NCR) confirmed that YY1 and c-Jun repress involucrin transcription. This repression involves the distal zinc fingers of YY1 protein and the DNA binding and leucine zipper domains of c-Jun. The results with protein pull-down experiments are consistent with the hypothesis that interaction of YY1 with c-Jun is an important mechanism for involucrin repression. Cotransfection of YY1 modified the stimulatory function of mutant c-Jun proteins independently of their DNA binding capacity suggesting that interactions may be more complex in vivo. Additionally, c-Jun protein levels are affected by differentiation stimuli indicating the importance of c-Jun in the YY1 repression pathway. Thus YY1 and c-Jun have an important role in epidermal differentiation by negatively regulating the human involucrin gene. PMID: 15586248 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE] --------------------------------------------------------------- 3: Mol Cell Biol. 2004 Aug;24(16):7260-74. Estrogens and progesterone promote persistent CCND1 gene activation during G1 by inducing transcriptional derepression via c-Jun/c-Fos/estrogen receptor (progesterone receptor) complex assembly to a distal regulatory element and recruitment of cyclin D1 to its own gene promoter. Cicatiello L, Addeo R, Sasso A, Altucci L, Petrizzi VB, Borgo R, Cancemi M, Caporali S, Caristi S, Scafoglio C, Teti D, Bresciani F, Perillo B, Weisz A. Dipartimento di Patologia Generale, Seconda Universita degli Studi di Napoli, 80138 Naples, Italy. Transcriptional activation of the cyclin D1 gene (CCND1) plays a pivotal role in G(1)-phase progression, which is thereby controlled by multiple regulatory factors, including nuclear receptors (NRs). Appropriate CCND1 gene activity is essential for normal development and physiology of the mammary gland, where it is regulated by ovarian steroids through a mechanism(s) that is not fully elucidated. We report here that CCND1 promoter activation by estrogens in human breast cancer cells is mediated by recruitment of a c-Jun/c-Fos/estrogen receptor alpha complex to the tetradecanoyl phorbol acetate-responsive element of the gene, together with Oct-1 to a site immediately adjacent. This process coincides with the release from the same DNA region of a transcriptional repressor complex including Yin-Yang 1 (YY1) and histone deacetylase 1 and is sufficient to induce the assembly of the basal transcription machinery on the promoter and to lead to initial cyclin D1 accumulation in the cell. Later on in estrogen stimulation, the cyclin D1/Cdk4 holoenzyme associates with the CCND1 promoter, where E2F and pRb can also be found, contributing to the long-lasting gene enhancement required to drive G(1)-phase completion. Interestingly, progesterone triggers similar regulatory events through its own NRs, suggesting that the gene regulation cascade described here represents a crossroad for the transcriptional control of G(1)-phase progression by different classes of NRs. PMID: 15282324 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE] --------------------------------------------------------------- 4: FEBS Lett. 2002 Mar 13;514(2-3):153-8. Vav-induced activation of the human IFN-gamma gene promoter is mediated by upregulation of AP-1 activity. Kaminuma O, Elly C, Tanaka Y, Mori A, Liu YC, Altman A, Miyatake S. Department of Immunology, The Tokyo Metropolitan Institute of Medical Science, 2-18-22 Honkomagome, Bunkyo-ku, Tokyo 113-8613, Japan. The role of Vav in the transcriptional regulation of the human interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma) promoter was investigated. Overexpression of Vav in Jurkat-TAg cells enhanced T cell receptor (TCR)-induced activation of a luciferase (Luc) reporter gene construct driven by cis-regulatory element of the IFN-gamma gene (-346 to +7). Electrophoresis mobility shift and Luc reporter assays demonstrated that the DNA-binding and transcriptional activity of the proximal AP-1-dependent NFAT site (positions -172 to -138), the AP-1/Ying-Yang 1 (YY1)-binding site (-209 to -184), and a consensus AP-1-binding site were upregulated by Vav. Vav enhanced TCR-induced activation of c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) and its upstream regulator, Rho family GTPases. Finally, coexpression of a dominant-negative Rac1 mutant suppressed Vav-mediated upregulation of the transcriptional and DNA-binding activity of the proximal NFAT/AP-1 site and the AP-1/YY1 site, as well as the complete IFN-gamma promoter activity. Vav activates the IFN-gamma promoter via upregulation of AP-1-binding through a Rac1/JNK pathway. PMID: 11943142 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE] --------------------------------------------------------------- 5: Gene. 1999 Jul 8;234(2):337-44. Characterization of the murine gene encoding 1-Cys peroxiredoxin and identification of highly homologous genes. Lee TH, Yu SL, Kim SU, Kim YM, Choi I, Kang SW, Rhee SG, Yu DY. Korea Research Institute of Bioscience and Biotechnology, PO Box 115, Yusong, Taejon 305-600, South Korea. A new type of peroxiredoxin, named 1-Cys peroxiredoxin (1-Cys Prx), reduces hydrogen peroxide with the use of electrons from unidentified electron donor(s). We have isolated the mouse gene encoding 1-Cys Prx (CP-3) and shown that it is comprised of five exons and four introns. Analysis of 5' flanking regions revealed binding sequences of several putative transcription factors such as Sp1, Pit-1a, c-Jun, c-Myc and YY1. It is noticeable that several potential Sp1 binding sites assigned the -60 through -96bp from putative transcription initiation site. The gel shift assays showed that Sp1 and Pit-1a bind specifically to each binding site in 1-Cys Prx promoter. We also isolated two highly related genes such as CP-2 and CP-5. These genes are encoded by single exons, and show 85% of nucleotide sequence homology with the CP-3. The structural features of these genes suggest that they might be intronless genes derived from the CP-3 by the mechanism involving retrotransposition. In addition, our data suggest that they are inserted to a specific site of the mouse L1 repetitive element. The 1-Cys Prx was actively transcribed in a variety of adult tissues as well as in the developing embryos. These results suggest that only the 1-Cys Prx gene might be relevant for studying the function of the 1-Cys Prx in the murine system. PMID: 10395907 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE] --------------------------------------------------------------- 6: Mol Cells. 1998 Dec 31;8(6):731-40. Characterization of the murine cdc2 gene. Jun D, Park HK, Nordin AA, Nagel JE, Kim YH. Department of Microbiology, College of Natural Sciences, Kyungpook National University, Taegu, Korea. A 1204 bp full-length cDNA encoding murine cdc2 was isolated and used as a probe to obtain four overlapping cdc2 genomic clones which span the entire cdc2 sequence. Characterization of these clones revealed that the cdc2 mRNA is distributed over 28 kb and in 8 exons ranging in size from 63 to approximately 303 bp. Since the 5'-untranslated sequence is interrupted by intron 1, the initiation codon is located in exon 2. The PSTAIRE region is in exon 3, and the stop codon is in exon 8. Primer extension analysis of cdc2 mRNA isolated from immobilized anti-CD3 activated T-cells demonstrated that the murine cdc2 gene utilizes multiple transcriptional start sites. No consensus sequence for a TATA box exists at an appropriate position within the promoter region. Instead, several putative transcription factor binding sites for PEA3, CREB, C/EBP, E box factor, YY1, ATF-like, Spl, and E2F were detected. Analysis of the promoter activity of the 5'-flanking region suggests that the sequence between -188 to -38, which possesses two Spl and one E2F motif, contains a major positive regulatory activity for the expression of murine cdc2. PMID: 9895127 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE] --------------------------------------------------------------- 7: Oncogene. 1998 Jun 11;16(23):3039-46. Suppression of c-Fos gene transcription with malignant transformation of human bronchial epithelial cells. Lee HY, Chaudhary J, Walsh GL, Hong WK, Kurie JM. Department of Thoracic/Head and Neck Medical Oncology, University of Texas-M.D. Anderson Cancer Centre, Houston 77030, USA. The Activator Protein-1 (AP-1) complex is a dimeric transcription factor composed of fos and jun proteins that regulates cellular growth and differentiation. We previously demonstrated a reduction in basal AP-1 transcriptional activity associated with the malignant transformation of human bronchial epithelial (HBE) cells that was, in part, a consequence of decreased c-fos expression. In this study, we investigated the mechanisms underlying the reduction in c-fos expression associated with the malignant transformation of HBE cells. c-Fos gene transcription was lower in tumorigenic HBE cells than in normal HBE cells, and the reduction in transcription involved c-fos gene promoter elements from -327 to +40. DNaseI footprinting and band shift analyses of motifs within this c-fos promoter region, including a cyclic AMP response element (CRE), serum response element (SRE), sis-inducible element (SIE), and a YY1 site, revealed that binding to these motifs was greater in tumorigenic HBE cells than in normal HBE cells. Site-directed mutagenesis of the CRE partially relieved the repression of c-fos promoter activity in tumorigenic HBE cells. Further, the activity of the Jun N-terminal Kinase (JNK)-dependent pathway, which was a positive regulator of the c-fos promoter, was greater in normal HBE cells than in tumorigenic HBE cells. These findings demonstrate a transcriptionally-mediated suppression of c-fos gene expression associated with the malignant transformation of HBE cells. The decreased activity of the c-fos promoter in tumorigenic 1170I cells appeared to involve suppression through a CRE site and reduced activation by JNK-dependent pathways. PMID: 9662337 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE] --------------------------------------------------------------- 8: Recent Prog Horm Res. 1997;52:103-19; discussion 119-20. The multifunctional role of the co-activator CBP in transcriptional regulation. Goldman PS, Tran VK, Goodman RH. Vollum Institute, Oregon Health Sciences University, Portland 97201, USA. One of the most studied and best-understood examples of second messenger-regulated gene transcription involves the activation of genes by the cyclic AMP pathway: stimulation of several hormone, growth factor, and neurotransmitter receptors activates adenylyl cyclase, generating cyclic AMP that, by binding to the regulatory subunit of protein kinase A (PKA), dissociates the PKA catalytic subunit. The free catalytic subunit is transported to the nucleus where it phosphorylates and consequently activates the transcription factor CREB. This phosphorylation of CREB allows interaction with the co-activator CBP, which binds to components of the basal transcriptional machinery. CBP and its homologue p300 are targets for several viral-transforming proteins, implying that these co-activators have a more extensive role in cellular function. Indeed, recent studies have demonstrated that multiple transcription factors bind to CBP, including c-jun, c-myb, MyoD, E2F1, YY1, and members of the steroid hormone receptor superfamily, although it is not yet clear which of these transcription factors depend upon CBP for function. Determining exactly which transcriptional pathways require CBP in vivo and which genes are activated by CBP will provide an important clue in developmental regulation and cell cycle control, since mutations in the human CBP gene have been found to cause developmental abnormalities and a predisposition for some types of cancer. In this review, we will discuss the mechanisms involved in the PKA-dependent activation of CREB and describe how the co-activator CBP and its homologue are involved in this process. In addition, we will outline the various transcription factor pathways that CBP has been proposed to activate. Finally, we will discuss the possible role of CBP in cellular transformation and differentiation. Publication Types: Review PMID: 9238849 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE] --------------------------------------------------------------- 9: Mol Cell Biol. 1996 Aug;16(8):4312-26. Adenovirus E1A downregulates cJun- and JunB-mediated transcription by targeting their coactivator p300. Lee JS, See RH, Deng T, Shi Y. Department of Pathology, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA. Transcription factors and cofactors play critical roles in cell growth and differentiation. Alterations of their activities either through genetic mutations or by viral oncoproteins often result in aberrant cell growth and tumorigenesis. The transcriptional cofactor p300 has recently been shown to be complexed with transcription factors YY1 and CREB. Adenovirus E1A oncoproteins target these transcription complexes via physical interactions with p300, resulting in alterations of transcription mediated by these transcription factors. Here we show that p300 is also critical for repression by E1A of the activities of cJun and JunB, two members of the AP-1 transcriptional complexes. This repressive effect of E1A is dependent on the p300-binding domain of E1A and can be relieved by overexpression of p300. These results suggest that p300 serves as a mediator protein for downregulation of AP-1 activity by E1A. This hypothesis was further supported by the following observations: (i) in the absence of E1A, overexpression of p300 stimulated transcription both through an AP-1 site present in the collagenase promoter and through Jun proteins in GAL4 fusion protein-based assays; and (ii) overexpression of a mutant p300 lacking the E1A-interacting domain reduced the responsiveness of Jun-dependent transcription to E1A repression. As predicted from the functional results, p300 physically interacted with the Jun proteins. These findings thus established that p300 is a cofactor for cJun and JunB. We propose that p300 is a common mediator protein through which E1A gains control over multiple transcriptional regulatory pathways in the host cells. PMID: 8754832 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE] --------------------------------------------------------------- 10: J Biol Chem. 1996 May 3;271(18):10827-33. Serum response factor mediates AP-1-dependent induction of the skeletal alpha-actin promoter in ventricular myocytes. Paradis P, MacLellan WR, Belaguli NS, Schwartz RJ, Schneider MD. Department of Medicine, Baylor College of Medicine, Houston, Texas 77030, USA. "Fetal" gene transcription, including activation of the skeletal alpha-actin (SkA) promoter, is provoked in cardiac myocytes by mechanical stress and trophic ligands. Induction of the promoter by transforming growth factor beta or norepinephrine requires serum response factor (SRF) and TEF-1; expression is inhibited by YY1. We and others postulated that immediate-early transcription factors might couple trophic signals to this fetal program. However, multiple Fos/Jun proteins exist, and the exact relationship between control by Fos/Jun versus SRF, TEF-1, and YY1 is unexplained. We therefore cotransfected ventricular myocytes with Fos, Jun, or JunB, and SkA reporter genes. SkA transcription was augmented by Jun, Fos/Jun, Fos/JunB, and Jun/JunB; Fos and JunB alone were neutral or inhibitory. Mutation of the SRF site, SRE1, impaired activation by Jun; YY1, TEF-1, and Sp1 sites were dispensable. SRE1 conferred Jun activation to a heterologous promoter, as did the c-fos SRE. Deletions of DNA binding, dimerization, or trans-activation domains of Jun and SRF abolished activation by Jun and synergy with SRF. Neither direct binding of Fos/Jun to SREs, nor physical interaction between Fos/Jun and SRF, was detected in mobility-shift assays. Thus, AP-1 factors activate a hypertrophy-associated gene via SRF, without detectable binding to the promoter or to SRF. PMID: 8631897 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE] --------------------------------------------------------------- 11: Mol Cell Biol. 1996 Jan;16(1):157-67. Characterization of the human granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor gene promoter: an AP1 complex and an Sp1-related complex transactivate the promoter activity that is suppressed by a YY1 complex. Ye J, Zhang X, Dong Z. Laboratory of Experimental Immunology, DCT, National Cancer Institute-Frederick Cancer Research and Development Center, Maryland 21702, USA. It is well documented that a repeated CATT element in the human granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) gene promoter is required for promoter activity. However, the transcription factors that are able to transactivate this enhancer element remain unidentified. Recently, we have found that nuclear factor YY1 can interact with the enhancer element. Here, we report that in addition to YY1, two other nuclear factors have been identified in the DNA-protein complexes formed by the CATT oligonucleotide and the Jurkat T-cell nuclear protein. One of these factors is AP1, and the other one is an Sp1-related protein. Results from transient transfection of Jurkat T cells have revealed that formation of both AP1 and the Sp1-related complex is required for the full enhancer activity of the CATT element. This result is supported by cotransfection of a c-jun expression vector and mutational analysis of the AP1 site or the Sp1-related protein binding site. In contrast, formation of the YY1 complex suppresses enhancer activity, since deletion of the YY1 complex induces an augmentation of the enhancer activity and overexpression of YY1 results in an attenuation of the enhancer activity. Results from the mechanism study have revealed that YY1 is able to inhibit transactivation mediated by either AP1 or the Sp1-related protein, and YY1 suppressive activity is DNA binding dependent. Taken together, these data support the ideas that AP1 and the Sp1-related nuclear protein are required for transactivation of the human GM-CSF gene promoter and that YY1 can suppress transactivation of the promoter even under inducible conditions. PMID: 8524292 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE] --------------------------------------------------------------- 12: Oncogene. 1995 Apr 6;10(7):1361-70. Two serum response elements mediate transcriptional repression of human smooth muscle alpha-actin promoter in ras-transformed cells. Bushel P, Kim JH, Chang W, Catino JJ, Ruley HE, Kumar CC. Department of Tumor Biology, Schering-Plough Research Institute, Kenilworth, New Jersey 07033, USA. The mechanism by which activated ras oncogene expression leads to repression of genes encoding specific actin filament proteins is not understood. However, these changes associated with loss of organized actin filaments, are necessary to maintain the transformed phenotype. The human smooth muscle (sm) alpha-actin promoter is repressed in ras-transformed fibroblast cells and derepressed in revertant cell lines. In this study, we demonstrate that two serum response elements (SREs) present in the alpha-actin promoter are required for transcriptional repression in ras-transformed cells and the two SREs act synergistically to repress heterologous promoters in a ras-transformation dependent manner. Serum response factor (SRF), which can bind to the sm alpha-actin SREs, restores alpha-actin promoter activity in ras-transformed cells. c-Fos, c-Jun and YY1 also repress alpha-actin promoter through SREs, suggesting that these transcription factors may play a role in repressing alpha-actin promoter in ras-transformed cells. PMID: 7731687 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE] --------------------------------------------------------------- 13: EMBO J. 1992 Dec;11(12):4607-17. Identification of a negative regulatory domain in the human papillomavirus type 18 promoter: interaction with the transcriptional repressor YY1. Bauknecht T, Angel P, Royer HD, zur Hausen H. Deutsches Krebsforschungszentrum Heidelberg, Germany. The human papillomavirus type 18 (HPV-18) promoter contains a TPA responsive element (TRE) which confers TPA responsiveness on a heterologous promoter. In the context of the HPV-18 promoter, however, this AP-1 site is inactive. We have identified a negative regulatory domain in the HPV-18 promoter which represses the constitutive and TPA-induced AP-1 activity. This negative regulatory sequence has been mapped to 44 nucleotides (OL13). We identified this element as a transcriptional silencer based on its ability to interfere with transcriptional initiation. This HPV-18 silencer domain was narrowed down further to 23 nucleotides, the OL13B element, which bears similarity to three other silencer sequences, present in the mouse N-ras gene upstream regulatory region, the mouse albumin gene enhancer and the adeno-associated virus P5 promoter. The transcriptional repressor protein YY1, which negatively regulates the P5 promoter, binds to the HPV-18 silencer with high affinity. Mutation of the YY1 binding site leads to an enhanced activity of the HPV-18 promoter, strongly suggesting that YY1 plays an important role in controlling HPV-18 early gene expression. PMID: 1330541 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE] ---------------------------------------------------------------