scholarly journals Netropsin improves survival from endotoxaemia by disrupting HMGA1 binding to the NOS2 promoter

2009 ◽  
Vol 418 (1) ◽  
pp. 103-112 ◽  
Author(s):  
Marianne A. Grant ◽  
Rebecca M. Baron ◽  
Alvaro A. Macias ◽  
Matthew D. Layne ◽  
Mark A. Perrella ◽  
...  

The inducible form of nitric oxide synthase (NOS2) plays an important role in sepsis incurred as a result of infection with Gram-negative bacteria that elaborate endotoxin. The HMGA1 (high-mobility group A1) architectural transcription factor facilitates NOS2 induction by binding a specific AT-rich Oct (octamer) sequence in the core NOS2 promoter via AT-hook motifs. The small-molecule MGB (minor-groove binder) netropsin selectively targets AT-rich DNA sequences and can interfere with transcription factor binding. We therefore hypothesized that netropsin would improve survival from murine endotoxaemia by attenuating NOS2 induction through interference with HMGA1 DNA binding to the core NOS2 promoter. Netropsin improved survival from endotoxaemia in wild-type mice, yet not in NOS2-deficient mice, supporting an important role for NOS2 in the beneficial effects of MGB administration. Netropsin significantly attenuated NOS2 promoter activity in macrophage transient transfection studies and the AT-rich HMGA1 DNA-binding site was critical for this effect. EMSAs (electrophoretic mobility-shift assays) demonstrated that netropsin interferes with HMGA1 NOS2 promoter binding and NMR spectroscopy was undertaken to characterize this disruption. Chemical shift perturbation analysis identified that netropsin effectively competes both HMGA1 DNA-binding AT-hooks from the AT-rich NOS2 promoter sequence. Furthermore, NOESY data identified direct molecular interactions between netropsin and A/T base pairs within the NOS2 promoter HMGA1-binding site. Finally, we determined a structure of the netropsin/NOS2 promoter Oct site complex from molecular modelling and dynamics calculations. These findings represent important steps toward refined structure-based ligand design of novel compounds for therapeutic benefit that can selectively target key regulatory regions within genes that are important for the development of critical illness.

Blood ◽  
2006 ◽  
Vol 108 (11) ◽  
pp. 1271-1271
Author(s):  
Junichi Tsukada ◽  
Fumihiko Mouri ◽  
Takamitsu Mizobe ◽  
Takehiro Higashi ◽  
Hiroto Izumi ◽  
...  

Abstract High mobility group box chromosomal protein 1 (HMGB1) was recently identified as a late proinflammatory mediator of endotoxin lethality, which amplifies and sustains the inflammatory processes via macrophage/monocyte activation by extracellular release of HMGB1. However, it was originally described as a nonhistone nuclear protein to bind and distort the structure of DNA and to regulate transcription through association with several transcription factors. Here we investigated the effect of intracellular HMGB1 on transcriptional gene regulation of an immediate early proinflammatory cytokine IL-1β in transient transfection studies using HMGB1 expression vector (pcDNA3HMGB1) and murine macrophage cells RAW264.7. When pcDNA3HMGB1 was introduced into RAW264.7 cells with pGL3HT reporter containing the -131 to +12 minimal IL-1β gene promoter, IL-1β promoter activity was significantly induced by expression of HMGB1. The gene promoter possesses two important transcription factor binding motifs, one for PU.1, a myeloid and B cell-specific transcription factor that belongs to the ETS family, and the other a binding site for NF-IL6. To verify the functional role of intracellular HMGB1 in transactivation of the IL-1β promoter, a PU.1 expression vector and/or pcDNA3HMGB1 were cotransfected into PU.1-deficient murine thymocytes EL4 cells along with pGL3HT reporter. As a result, HMGB1 synergized with PU.1 to transactivate the IL-1β promoter, but not HMGB1 alone. This argument was supported by our GST-pulldown data, which demonstrated direct physical interaction of HMGB1 with PU.1. In addition, deletion of the PU.1 winged helix-turn-helix DNA-binding domain significantly inhibited the association of PU.1 with HMGB1. To determine whether HMGB1 could affect PU.1 DNA-binding affinity, we performed electrophoretic mobility shift assay using a radiolabeled IL-1β -59 to +12 promoter element (DT), recombinant PU.1 (rPU.1) and GST-HMGB1. Two complexes with slower and faster mobilities were generated by the addition of HMGB1 to a mixture of rPU.1 and DT probe. The two complexes were abrogated by preincubation with anti-PU.1 Ab, while anti-HMGB1 Ab reacted only with the complex with a slower mobility, indicating that the complex with a slower mobility formed by addition of HMGB1 contained both HMGB1 and PU.1, while the band with a faster mobility contained only PU.1. From the present study, we propose that intracellular HMGB1 might function as a coactivator in PU.1-mediated transcriptional activation, which facilitate access of PU.1 to specific DNA targets. The fact that PU.1 is a transcription factor essential to macrophages/monocyte-specific proinflammatory cytokine genes further raise the possibility that interaction of PU.1 with HMGB1 may play an important role in the inflammation cascade in macrophages/monocytes.


2002 ◽  
Vol 76 (12) ◽  
pp. 5875-5881 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jie Li ◽  
Zhenming Xu ◽  
Yanyan Zheng ◽  
Deborah L. Johnson ◽  
Jing-hsiung Ou

ABSTRACT The hepatitis B virus (HBV) core promoter regulates the transcription of two related RNA products named precore RNA and core RNA. Previous studies indicate that a double-nucleotide mutation that occurs frequently during chronic HBV infection converts a nuclear receptor binding site in the core promoter to the binding site of the transcription factor hepatocyte nuclear factor-1 (HNF-1) and specifically suppresses the transcription of the precore RNA. This mutation also changes two codons in the overlapping X protein coding sequence. In this report, we demonstrate that the X protein and its mutant Xmt can physically bind to HNF-1 both in vitro and in vivo. Further analyses indicate that both X and Xmt can enhance the gene transactivation and the DNA binding activities of HNF-1. This finding demonstrates for the first time that the X protein can stimulate the DNA binding activity of a homeodomain transcription factor. Interestingly, while both X and Xmt can stimulate the HNF-1 activities, they differ in their effects: a smaller amount of Xmt is needed to generate greater transactivation and DNA binding activities of HNF-1. This functional difference between X and Xmt may have important implications in HBV pathogenesis and is apparently why they have different effects on the core promoter bearing the HNF-1 binding site.


1998 ◽  
Vol 45 (1) ◽  
pp. 67-73 ◽  
Author(s):  
M Czyz ◽  
M Gniazdowski

The mode of action of many anticancer drugs involves DNA interactions. We here examine the ability of actinomycin D to alter the specific binding of transcription factors Spl and NFkappaB to their DNA sequences. Employing an electrophoretic mobility shift assay, it is shown that actinomycin D inhibits complex formation between nuclear proteins present in the extracts from stimulated human umbilical vein endothelial cells and the Sp1-binding site. Actinomycin D is also able to induce disruption of preformed DNA-protein complexes, pointing to the importance of an equilibrium of three components: actinomycin D, protein and DNA for drug action. The effect of actinomycin D is sequence-specific, since no inhibition is observed for interaction of nuclear proteins with the NFkappaB binding site. The results support the view that DNA-binding drugs displaying high sequence-selectivity can exhibit distinct effects on the interaction between DNA and different DNA-binding proteins.


2021 ◽  
Vol 14 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Francisco Macías ◽  
Raquel Afonso-Lehmann ◽  
Patricia E. Carreira ◽  
M. Carmen Thomas

Abstract Background Trypanosomatid genomes are colonized by active and inactive mobile DNA elements, such as LINE, SINE-like, SIDER and DIRE retrotransposons. These elements all share a 77-nucleotide-long sequence at their 5′ ends, known as Pr77, which activates transcription, thereby generating abundant unspliced and translatable transcripts. However, transcription factors that mediates this process have still not been reported. Methods TATA-binding protein (TBP) and small nuclear RNA-activating protein 50 kDa (SNAP50) recombinant proteins and specific antibodies raised against them were generated. Protein capture assay, electrophoretic mobility-shift assays (EMSA) and EMSA competition assays carried out using these proteins and nuclear proteins of the parasite together to specific DNA sequences used as probes allowed detecting direct interaction of these transcription factors to Pr77 sequence. Results This study identified TBP and SNAP50 as part of the DNA-protein complex formed by the Pr77 promoter sequence and nuclear proteins of Trypanosoma cruzi. TBP establishes direct and specific contact with the Pr77 sequence, where the DPE and DPE downstream regions are docking sites with preferential binding. TBP binds cooperatively (Hill coefficient = 1.67) to Pr77 and to both strands of the Pr77 sequence, while the conformation of this highly structured sequence is not involved in TBP binding. Direct binding of SNAP50 to the Pr77 sequence is weak and may be mediated by protein–protein interactions through other trypanosomatid nuclear proteins. Conclusions Identification of the transcription factors that mediate Pr77 transcription may help to elucidate how these retrotransposons are mobilized within the trypanosomatid genomes and their roles in gene regulation processes in this human parasite. Graphic abstract


1997 ◽  
Vol 11 (11) ◽  
pp. 1651-1658 ◽  
Author(s):  
Limin Liu ◽  
Douglas Leaman ◽  
Michel Villalta ◽  
R. Michael Roberts

Abstract CG is required for maintenance of the corpus luteum during pregnancy in higher primates. As CG is a heterodimeric molecule, some form of coordinated control must be maintained over the transcription of its two subunit genes. We recently found that expression of human CG β-subunit (hCGβ) in JAr human choriocarcinoma cells was almost completely silenced by the embryonic transcription factor Oct-3/4, which bound to a unique ACAATAATCA octameric sequence in the hCGβ gene promoter. Here we report that Oct-3/4 is also a potent inhibitor of hCG α-subunit (hCGα) expression in JAr cells. Oct-3/4 reduced human GH reporter expression from the −170 hCGα promoter in either the presence or absence of cAMP by about 70% in transient cotransfection assays, but had no effect on expression from either the −148 hCGα or the −99 hCGα promoter. Unexpectedly, no Oct-3/4-binding site was identified within the −170 to −148 region of the hCGα promoter, although one was found around position −115 by both methylation interference footprinting and electrophoretic mobility shift assays. Site-directed mutagenesis of this binding site destroyed the affinity of the promoter for Oct-3/4, but did not affect repression of the promoter. Therefore, inhibition of hCGα gene transcription by Oct-3/4 appears not to involve direct binding of this factor to the site responsible for silencing. When stably transfected into JAr cells, Oct-3/4 reduced the amounts of both endogenous hCGα mRNA and protein by 70–80%. Oct-3/4 is therefore capable of silencing both hCGα and hCGβ gene expression. We suggest that as the trophoblast begins to form, reduction of Oct-3/4 expression permits the coordinated onset of transcription from the hCGα and hCGβ genes.


1994 ◽  
Vol 14 (9) ◽  
pp. 5986-5996
Author(s):  
S P Hunger ◽  
R Brown ◽  
M L Cleary

The t(17;19) translocation in acute lymphoblastic leukemias results in creation of E2A-hepatic leukemia factor (HLF) chimeric proteins that contain the DNA-binding and protein dimerization domains of the basic leucine zipper (bZIP) protein HLF fused to a portion of E2A proteins with transcriptional activation properties. An in vitro binding site selection procedure was used to determine DNA sequences preferentially bound by wild-type HLF and chimeric E2A-HLF proteins isolated from various t(17;19)-bearing leukemias. All were found to selectively bind the consensus sequence 5'-GTTACGTAAT-3' with high affinity. Wild-type and chimeric HLF proteins also bound closely related sites identified previously for bZIP proteins of both the proline- and acidic amino acid-rich (PAR) and C/EBP subfamilies; however, E2A-HLF proteins were significantly less tolerant of certain deviations from the HLF consensus binding site. These differences were directly attributable to loss of an HLF ancillary DNA-binding domain in all E2A-HLF chimeras and were further exacerbated by a zipper mutation in one isolate. Both wild-type and chimeric HLF proteins displayed transcriptional activator properties in lymphoid and nonlymphoid cells on reporter genes containing HLF or C/EBP consensus binding sites. But on reporter genes with nonoptimal binding sites, their transcriptional properties diverged and E2A-HLF competitively inhibited activation by wild-type PAR proteins. These findings establish a spectrum of binding site-specific transcriptional properties for E2A-HLF which may preferentially activate expression of select subordinate genes as a homodimer and potentially antagonize expression of others through heteromeric interactions.


1986 ◽  
Vol 6 (12) ◽  
pp. 4723-4733
Author(s):  
L A Chodosh ◽  
R W Carthew ◽  
P A Sharp

A simple approach has been developed for the unambiguous identification and purification of sequence-specific DNA-binding proteins solely on the basis of their ability to bind selectively to their target sequences. Four independent methods were used to identify the promoter-specific RNA polymerase II transcription factor MLTF as a 46-kilodalton (kDa) polypeptide. First, a 46-kDa protein was specifically cross-linked by UV irradiation to a body-labeled DNA fragment containing the MLTF binding site. Second, MLTF sedimented through glycerol gradients at a rate corresponding to a protein of native molecular weight 45,000 to 50,000. Third, a 46-kDa protein was specifically retained on a biotin-streptavidin matrix only when the DNA fragment coupled to the matrix contained the MLTF binding site. Finally, proteins from the most highly purified fraction which were eluted and renatured from the 44- to 48-kDa region of a sodium dodecyl sulfate-polyacrylamide gel exhibited both binding and transcription-stimulatory activities. The DNA-binding activity was purified 100,000-fold by chromatography through three conventional columns plus a DNA affinity column. Purified MLTF was characterized with respect to the kinetic and thermodynamic properties of DNA binding. These parameters indicate a high degree of occupancy of MLTF binding sites in vivo.


1989 ◽  
Vol 9 (2) ◽  
pp. 820-822 ◽  
Author(s):  
L A Chodosh ◽  
S Buratowski ◽  
P A Sharp

The adenovirus major late transcription factor (MLTF), or upstream stimulatory factor, is a human promoter-specific transcription factor which recognizes the near-palindromic sequence GGCCACGTGACC (R. W. Carthew, L. A. Chodosh, and P. A. Sharp, Cell 43:439-448, 1985; L. A. Chodosh, R. W. Carthew, and P. A. Sharp, Mol. Cell. Biol. 6:4723-4733, 1986; M. Sawadogo and R. G. Roeder, Cell 43:165-175, 1985). We describe here a protein found in the yeast Saccharomyces cerevisiae which possesses DNA-binding properties that are virtually identical to those of human MLTF. These two proteins recognize the same DNA-binding site, make the same purine nucleotide contacts, and are affected in the same manner by mutations in the MLTF-binding site.


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