Regulation of the human fas promoter by YB-1, Puralpha and AP-1 transcription factors.

Fas (CD95/Apo-1) gene expression is dysregulated in a number of diseased states. Towards understanding the regulation of fas gene expression, we previously identified activator and repressor elements within the human fas promoter. Using a combination of expression screening and reporter gene assays, we have identified transcription factors which bind to these elements and thereby regulate transcription of the fas promoter. These are three single-stranded DNA binding proteins, YB-1, Puralpha and Purbeta and two components of the AP-1 complex, c-Fos and c-Jun. c-Jun is a potent transcriptional activator of fas and stimulated expression levels up to 184-fold in reporter gene assays. Co-expression with c-Fos abrogated c-Jun-mediated activation. YB-1 and Puralpha are transcriptional repressors of fas and decreased basal transcription by 60-fold in reporter gene assays. Purbeta was predominantly an antagonist of YB-1/Puralpha-mediated repression. Overexpression of YB-1 and Puralpha in Jurkat cells was shown to reduce the level of cell surface Fas staining, providing further evidence that these proteins regulate the fas promoter. It has been suggested that YB-1 plays a role in cell proliferation as an activator of growth-associated gene expression. We have shown that YB-1 is a repressor of a cell death-associated gene fas. These results suggest that YB-1 may play an important role in controlling cell survival by co-ordinately regulating the expression of cell growth-associated and death-associated genes.

Silencer and enhancer regions in the human CD95 (Fas/APO-1) gene with sequence similarity to the granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor promoter: binding of single strand-specific silencer factors and AP-1 and NF-AT-like enhancer factors.

The CD95 (Fas/APO-1) apoptosis receptor is expressed in a variety of tissues and transiently upregulated in lymphocytes during activation-induced cell death. A silencer (S1; -1035 to -1008) and an adjacent enhancer (E1; -1007 to -964) region have been mapped in the CD95 gene. The S1 region shows similarity to binding sites for the transcriptional repressor NF-GMb, which prefers binding to single-stranded DNA. The E1 contains an everted repeat of two CATTA/T elements spaced by 2 bp (ER2). Such motifs are directly repeated in the CLE0 region of the human granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (huGM-CSF) promoter. A motif (TGATGTCA) which matches a CREB site and is similar to an AP-1 site is embedded within ER2. Sequence-specific binding of nuclear factors to single-stranded S1 probes involved, to some extent, a central heptamer motif (ATCCAAA) also present in E1. Competition binding studies suggested that AP-1 or AP-1 components, as well as factors related, but not identical, to NF-AT bound to E1 probes. S1-binding-proteins/complexes of 47, 77, and 100 kDa were detected by Southwestern analysis and ultraviolet crosslinking. Complexes of 70 and 80 kDa were formed with a double-stranded E1 probe in UV-crosslinking, whereas Southwestern analysis with this probe revealed single binding species of 59 and 113 kDa. ER2 autonomously enhanced transcription from the heterologous HSV tk promoter in a cell type-specific manner only in the absence of the S1 region. This analysis has identified a small region in the CD95 gene containing adjacent opposing regulatory elements which are likely to be involved in the cell type- and activation state-specific gene expression under physiologic conditions.

Apoptosis through CD95 (Fas/APO-1), but not a CD40/CD95 chimeric receptor, is inhibited by phorbol-12-myristate-13-acetate.

CD95 (Fas/APO-1)-mediated apoptosis appears to be regulated by positive and negative signaling molecules. A human CD40/CD95 chimeric receptor was stably transfected into CD95-expressing human Jurkat T cells, and signaling through native and chimeric CD95 was compared in the same cell type to assess contributions of the CD95 extracellular and intracellular domains. Apoptosis was induced in these transfectants by soluble CD40 ligand and also by the anti-CD40 monoclonal antibodies (mAb) M2 and M3. The M2 mAb was more effective than M3 in these transfectants. In contrast to apoptosis mediated through native CD95, CD40/CD95-mediated apoptosis was not inhibited by phorbol-12-myristate-13-acetate (PMA). The apoptotic response to the anti-CD40 mAb M3, but not M2, was enhanced by PMA and dibutyryl cyclic adenosine monophosphate (db-cAMP), which also increased mRNA levels and surface expression of CD40/CD95. The enhancing effects of PMA, but not those of db-cAMP, were sensitive to cycloheximide. The M2 and M3 mAbs appeared to have virtually identical binding affinities but, when added to cells together, M3 inhibited M2-induced apoptosis. These mAbs may bind neighboring epitopes, but M2 induces a more effective signaling-competent conformation upon the chimeric receptor. These data suggest that dimerization, however only in a signaling-competent conformation, was sufficient to induce apoptosis. When expressed as a chimera with the CD40 extracellular domain, the CD95 intracellular domain was not inhibited by protein kinase C (PKC)-dependent pathways, suggesting that the CD95 extracellular domain is required for association with a molecule that inhibits the apoptotic signal.

Identification of a silencer, enhancer, and basal promoter region in the human CD95 (Fas/APO-1) gene.

Genomic clones for the human CD95 (Fas/APO-1) and CD40 genes have been isolated and 2.3 kb of the CD95 and 0.8 kb of the CD40 gene 5'-flanking regions sequenced. Comparisons of the human CD95 gene with the human CD40 and the murine CD40 and TNFR-II genes showed a low degree of sequence similarity. However, dot matrix analyses revealed conservation of two stretches between human CD95 (-387 to -362 and -288 to 261 in CD95) and murine TNFR-II genes. Additionally, TCCTCC motifs are present within 400 bp up-stream of the ATG of all genes examined. Repeated interferon-beta (IFN-beta) silencer B motifs and a lysozyme silencer 1 motif have been found in the CD95 gene at approximately -1,600 and -1,100, respectively. Sequence comparison of the 5'-flanking regions of the murine and human CD40 genes revealed the presence of a conserved AP-4 site and two SP-1 sites. CD95, CD40, and TNFR-II genes all lack classical TATA and CAAT boxes. However, a strongly increased frequency of CpG dinucleotides was found. Primer extension analysis revealed multiple transcriptional start sites in the CD95 gene, where the usage of individual start sites appeared to be cell type-specific. Functional analysis, using reporter constructs and transient transfections, identified a silencer activity residing between nucleotide positions -1,781 and -1007 and a strong enhancer region between -1,007 and -425 in the human CD95 gene. The region between -425 and -1 retained a basal promoter activity.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)