Nur77 nuclear import and its NBRE-binding activity in thymic lymphoma cells are regulated by different mechanisms sensitive to FK506 or HA1004.

Thymic lymphoma cells restore their sensitivity to ionomycin-induced apoptosis when treated with FK506 or HA1004. In apoptosis-resistant cells, ionomycin-induced Nur77 strongly binds DNA during the first 2 h of response, in contrast to lymphoma cells treated with ionomycin together with FK506 or HA1004, which undergo massive apoptosis. We show that Nur77 could discriminate between calcium signals sensitive to FK506 and those sensitive to HA1004, as the inhibitors differentially regulate the kinetics of Nur77 nuclear import, and FK506, unlike HA1004, inhibits Nur77 DNA-binding activity. In the presence of HA1004, NBRE binding by Nur77 protein increases with time (6 h vs 2 h), whereas the final outcome of both inhibitors is apoptosis of thymic lymphoma cells.

[FK506 - binding proteins in the regulation of transcription factors activity in T cells]. / Rola bialek wiazacych FK506 w regulacji aktywnosci czynników transkrypcyjnych w komórkach T.

Members of the FKBP family play various functions within the cell. For T cell biology essential is their involvement in the regulation of cytokine genes transcription, mainly at the level of nucleocytoplasmic transport of transcription factors. FKBP12 is the mediator of immunosuppressive action of FK506. When complexed with the drug, FKBP12 blocks nuclear import of NFAT and formation of AP-1 heterodimer, due to inhibition of calcium-dependent phosphatase calcineurin and JNK/p38 pathways. Suppression of these two, and possibly some other signaling pathways leads to prevention of IL-2 expression and T cell activation. FKBP51 and FKBP52 are natural components of glucocorticoid receptor complex and direct regulators of its activity. Upon ligand binding FKBP51, maintaining receptor in the cytoplasm, is exchanged by FKBP52, which allows translocation of the complex to the nucleus. Thereby FKBPs take a part in the regulation of immune response by glucocorticoids.

Nurr1 affects pRL-TK but not phRG-B internal control plasmid in genetic reporter system.

In transcription assays, Renilla luciferase-expressing plasmids (more specifically pRL-TK) are commonly used as an internal control of transfection efficiency. Normalization of the experimental reporter gene transcription to the internal control reporter gene transcription minimizes variability of obtained results caused by differences in transfection efficiency between different samples of transfected cells. It is obvious that co-transfection with other plasmids or applied treatments should not affect the activity of the control reporter. Here we report that expression of the control Renilla luciferase encoded by pRL-TK plasmid was enhanced by co-transfection with vectors expressing orphan nuclear receptors Nur77 family (Nur77, Nurr1, Nor-1), leading to misinterpretation of the assay results. Further, we show that for Nurr1, phRG-B (a promoterless reporter plasmid containing synthetic Renilla luciferase gene) is a better control reporter vector than HSV-TK containing vectors. Finally, we noted the lack of effect of Nurr1 protein on the Fas Ligand promoter-driven transcription.