The Brn-3b POU family transcription factor represses plakoglobin gene expression in human breast cancer cells.

The Brn-3b transcription factor has been shown to be overexpressed in human breast cancer cells and contributes toward cell growth regulation. Using micro-arrays, more than 50 cancer-related genes regulated by Brn-3b in human breast cancer cells have been identified. For example, Brn-3b activates the cell cycle regulator CDK4 that provides a mechanism by which Brn-3b controls the growth of breast cancer cells. Here, we show that Brn-3b regulates plakoglobin (gamma-catenin), a member of the catenin family involved in cell-cell adhesion and signal transduction. Brn-3b expression inversely correlates with plakoglobin expression at both mRNA and protein levels in breast cancer cell lines and human breast biopsies. In contrast, no significant correlation was observed between Brn-3b expression and beta-catenin, or between Brn-3b expression and E-cadherin expression. Brn-3b represses the plakoglobin promoter via a Brn-3 consensus binding site contained within the region -965 to -593 relative to the transcriptional start site. Both repression of the promoter and binding of Brn-3b are lost when this site is mutated. To our knowledge, this is the first time that a Brn-3b POU family transcription factor has been shown to regulate a member of the catenin family, which provides insight into the molecular mechanisms by which Brn-3b expression may favour breast cancer progression and tumor invasion.

Expression of the Brn-3b transcription factor correlates with expression of HSP-27 in breast cancer biopsies and is required for maximal activation of the HSP-27 promoter.

In breast cancer, overexpression of the small heat shock protein, HSP-27, is associated with increased anchorage-independent growth, increased invasiveness, and resistance to chemotherapeutic drugs and is associated with poor prognosis and reduced disease-free survival. Therefore, factors that increase the expression of HSP-27 in breast cancer are likely to affect the prognosis and outcome of treatment. In this study, we show a strong correlation between elevated levels of the Brn-3b POU transcription factor and high levels of HSP-27 protein in manipulated MCF-7 breast cancer cells as well as in human breast biopsies. Conversely, HSP-27 is decreased on loss of Brn-3b. In cotransfection assays, Brn-3b can strongly transactivate the HSP-27 promoter, supporting a role for direct regulation of HSP-27 expression. Brn-3b also cooperates with the estrogen receptor (ER) to facilitate maximal stimulation of the HSP-27 promoter, with significantly enhanced activity of this promoter observed on coexpression of Brn-3b and ER compared with either alone. RNA interference and site-directed mutagenesis support the requirement for the Brn-3b binding site on the HSP-27 promoter, which facilitates maximal transactivation either alone or on interaction with the ER. Chromatin immunoprecipitation provides evidence for association of Brn-3b with the HSP-27 promoter in the intact cell. Thus, Brn-3b can, directly and indirectly (via interaction with the ER), activate HSP-27 expression, and this may represent one mechanism by which Brn-3b mediates its effects in breast cancer cells.

Activation of CDK4 gene expression in human breast cancer cells by the Brn-3b POU family transcription factor.

The Brn-3b POU family transcription factor has previously been shown to be over-expressed in human breast cancer and to enhance the growth rate and anchorage independent growth of human breast cancer cells, acting at least in part by inhibiting the expression of the BRCA-1 anti-oncogene. Here we have used gene arrays to identify several other targets for Brn-3b in human breast cancer cells, including cyclin-dependent kinase 4 (CDK4). In particular, we show that levels of CDK4 mRNA and protein correlate with the levels of Brn-3b in breast cancer cell lines manipulated to express different levels of Brn-3b and in human breast cancer biopsies and that Brn-3b can activate the CDK4 promoter. The effect of Brn-3b on the growth regulatory CDK4 protein provides a further mechanism by which Brn-3b can regulate breast cancer cell growth and indicates that it can do this by activating as well as repressing specific target genes.

Deletion of the virion host shutoff protein (vhs) from herpes simplex virus (HSV) relieves the viral block to dendritic cell activation: potential of vhs- HSV vectors for dendritic cell-mediated immunotherapy.

Herpes simplex virus (HSV) infects dendritic cells (DC) efficiently but with minimal replication. HSV, therefore, appears to have evolved the ability to enter DC even though they are nonpermissive for virus growth. This provides a potential utility for HSV in delivering genes to DC for vaccination purposes and also suggests that the life cycle of HSV usually includes the infection of DC. However, DC infected with HSV usually lose the ability to become activated following infection (M. Salio, M. Cella, M. Suter, and A. Lanzavecchia, Eur. J. Immunol. 29:3245-3253, 1999; M. Kruse, O. Rosorius, F. Kratzer, G. Stelz, C. Kuhnt, G. Schuler, J. Hauber, and A. Steinkasserer, J. Virol. 74:7127-7136, 2000). We report that for DC to retain the ability to become activated following HSV infection, the virion host shutoff protein (vhs) must be deleted. vhs usually functions to destabilize mRNA in favor of the production of HSV proteins in permissive cells. We have found that it also plays a key role in the inactivation of DC and is therefore likely to be important for immune evasion by the virus. Here, vhs would be anticipated to prevent DC activation in the early stages of infection of an individual with HSV, reducing the induction of cellular immune responses and thus preventing virus clearance during repeated cycles of virus latency and reactivation. Based on this information, replication-incompetent HSV vectors with vhs deleted which allow activation of DC and the induction of specific T-cell responses to delivered antigens have been constructed. These responses are greater than if DC are loaded with antigen by incubation with recombinant protein.

Herpes simplex virus infection of dendritic cells: balance among activation, inhibition, and immunity.

Several lines of evidence suggest that dendritic cells (DCs), the most potent antigen-presenting cells known, play a role in the immunological control of herpes simplex virus (HSV) infections. HSV infection of DCs induced submaximal maturation, but DCs failed to mature further in response to lipopolysaccharide (LPS). LPS induced interleukin (IL)-12 secretion, and the induction of primary and secondary T cell responses were impaired by infection. Ultimately, DC infection resulted in delayed, asynchronous apoptotic cell death. However, infected DCs induced HSV recall responses in some individuals. Furthermore, soluble factors secreted by DCs after infection induced DC maturation and primed for IL-12 secretion after LPS stimulation. These data support a pathogenetic model of HSV infection, in which initial delay in the generation of immune responses to HSV at peripheral sites is mediated by disruption of DC function but is overcome by bystander DC maturation and cross-presentation of HSV antigens.