Functional phosphorylation sites in the C-terminal region of the multivalent multifunctional transcriptional factor CTCF.

CTCF is a widely expressed and highly conserved multi-Zn-finger (ZF) nuclear factor. Binding to various CTCF target sites (CTSs) is mediated by combinatorial contributions of different ZFs. Different CTSs mediate distinct CTCF functions in transcriptional regulation, including promoter repression or activation and hormone-responsive gene silencing. In addition, the necessary and sufficient core sequences of diverse enhancer-blocking (insulator) elements, including CpG methylation-sensitive ones, have recently been pinpointed to CTSs. To determine whether a posttranslational modification may modulate CTCF functions, we studied CTCF phosphorylation. We demonstrated that most of the modifications that occur at the carboxy terminus in vivo can be reproduced in vitro with casein kinase II (CKII). Major modification sites map to four serines within the S(604)KKEDS(609)S(610)DS(612)E motif that is highly conserved in vertebrates. Specific mutations of these serines abrogate phosphorylation of CTCF in vivo and CKII-induced phosphorylation in vitro. In addition, we showed that completely preventing phosphorylation by substituting all serines within this site resulted in markedly enhanced repression of the CTS-bearing vertebrate c-myc promoters, but did not alter CTCF nuclear localization or in vitro DNA-binding characteristics assayed with c-myc CTSs. Moreover, these substitutions manifested a profound effect on negative cell growth regulation by wild-type CTCF. CKII may thus be responsible for attenuation of CTCF activity, either acting on its own or by providing the signal for phosphorylation by other kinases and for CTCF-interacting protein partners.

The Drosophila gene twister, an orthologue of the yeast helicase SKI2, is differentially expressed during development.

We have identified and characterized a Drosophila orthologue of SKI2, which, in Saccharomyces cerevisiae, is one of the key components in the cytoplasmic 3'-5' decay of mRNA. The Drosophila orthologue (twister, tst), is expressed as two transcripts which differ in the lengths of their 3'-UTRs, with the smaller transcript being particularly abundant in 0-2 h embryos and the larger transcript reaching its highest levels in 6-8 h embryos. TST protein is expressed in two forms which are differentially expressed in adult tissues and throughout development. Differential expression of TST may modulate activity of the mRNA turnover pathway and could have a major impact on the expression of target RNAs.

Differential expression and phosphorylation of CTCF, a c-myc transcriptional regulator, during differentiation of human myeloid cells.

CTCF is a transcriptional repressor of the c-myc gene. Although CTCF has been characterized in some detail, there is very little information about the regulation of CTCF activity. Therefore we investigated CTCF expression and phosphorylation during induced differentiation of human myeloid leukemia cells. We found that: (i) both CTCF mRNA and protein are down-regulated during terminal differentiation in most cell lines tested; (ii) CTCF down-regulation is retarded and less pronounced than that of c-myc; (iii) CTCF protein is differentially phosphorylated and the phosphorylation profiles depend on the differentiation pathway. We concluded that CTCF expression and activity is controlled at transcriptional and post-transcriptional levels.

Antisense oligonucleotide complementary to endogenous retroviral MCF env gene inhibits both BFU-E and CFU-S colony formation in mice.

A possible biologic activity of endogenously expressed env sequence of retroviral mink cell focus-forming virus (MCF) genome for hematopoietic colony formation was studied in mice. Antisense 20-mer complementary to MCF env sequence was used to detect the result of blockage of this gene translation on the potency of marrow cells to form colonies of erythroid (BFU-E), myeloid granulocyte-macrophage (CFU-GM), and stem cell (day 11 CFU-S) hematopoietic compartments. A large relative decrease in BFU-E number was found in bone marrow cell cultures preincubated with antisense oligonucleotide during 4 h, whereas CFU-GM colonies remained unaffected. A marked reduction of CFU-S colony formation was also registered under antisense oligomer influence. Following a decreased proliferation of erythroid progenitors, we suggest the mechanism by which antisense oligonucleotide could cause the loss of colony formation. Taken together, these data allow to propose that the expression of this gene is naturally significant for hematopoietic progenitor activity exerting some property of env gene products to regulate the growth of erythroid and multilineage hematopoietic precursors.

Suppressive effect of Ebola virus on T cell proliferation in vitro is provided by a 125-kDa GP viral protein.

Ebola virus (EV), an extremely infectious pathogen, causes severe hemorrhagic fever in humans and nonhuman primates. The disease pattern includes damage of parenchymal cells of vital organs in association with hemostatic and immune disorders. Vaccination with the inactivated virions does not provide an effective immune protection against the disease. The inadequate immune response may be directly caused by the virus, and, hence, it may presumably be crucial in the pathogenic process and prophylactic treatment of Ebola infection. The suggested immunosuppressive properties of EV were examined in this study. We have demonstrated that the whole heat-inactivated virions can dose-dependently suppress human lymphocyte mitogen-stimulated proliferation in vitro. In further analyses, we identified the viral protein responsible for the suppressive effect, and we showed that it was provided by a protein corresponding to a 125-kDa envelope glycoprotein (GP-125). The protein alone inhibited lymphocyte proliferation, whereas the other viral proteins were without significant effect on blastogenesis. To determine the immunosuppressive properties of different portions of GP-125, deletion mutants of GP were designed based on predicted localisation of antigen sites. They were expressed as recombinant proteins and studied in proliferation assays. We identified a 40-amino acid sequence at the N-terminus of GP-125 that exerted a suppressive effect on blastogenesis.

The growth of human HIV-1 infected U937 cells in immune-deprived mice.

We report in vivo growth of human promonocytic cells infected with HIV-1 presented in new mouse model. Cloned U937 cells chronically infected with HIV-1 were grafted in (CBA*C57B1/6)F1 mice deprived of immunity by thymectomia and total body irradiation with subsequent marrow reconstitution. Nine weeks after cell inoculation, HIV-1-positive cells were found only in mice that received an additional single dose of cyclophosphamide (100 mg/kg bw) prior to transplantation, whereas, in mice without further immune deprivation, the complete elimination of cells bearing viral antigen occurred already on the seventh day after transplantation. The approach described may be suitable for in vivo development of antiviral drugs against latent infection in macrophage-like cells which represent a serious problem in therapy of AIDS in humans.

Endogenous retroviral envelope peptide expression is involved in a regulation of lymphocyte and hematopoietic precursor activity.

A biological function of endogenously expressed MuLV p15E-related proteins for lymphocyte and hematopoietic precursor activity in mice was examined. A high level of endogenous p15E-related peptide expression in spleen cells of mice with hemolytic anemia rendered by phenylhydrazine (PHZ) treatment was observed, detected by hyperimmune rabbit antisera against amino acid sequence which compose the immunosuppressive domain (ISD) of exogenous viral transmembrane (TM) p15E protein. The conditioned medium of these cultured cells (PHZ/CM) was inhibitory for lymphocyte blastogenesis and granulocyte-macrophage (GM) precursor activity, but stimulatory for the erythroid colony growth. When added to PHZ/CM, anti-ISD/p15E antibodies were capable to abrogate these effects. These antibodies bound 14K and 48K structural peptides contented in PHZ/CM as presumably smaller components of env gene products. Given together, the results indicate that erythroid immature cells produce proteins appearing in cell culture medium which exert p15E-related properties. These peptides are suggested to exert a down regulation for both lymphocyte and GM precursor activities, and the colony-promoting effect towards erythroid compartment cells.

The influence of synthetic peptide from retroviral transmembrane protein p15E on murine spleen cell proliferation and bone marrow hemopoietic precursor colony formation.

The retroviral transmembrane p15E peptide is known to suppress a wide variety of immune cell functions, suggesting a role for immunosuppression associated with retroviral infection. The 10-amino acid sequence from the highly conserved portion of p15E (CKS-10) is capable of reproducing this inhibitory activity. In this study we set out to determine the influence of this decapeptide on murine spleen cell mitogen-induced proliferation and hematopoietic granulocyte-macrophage and erythroid precursor colony formation in vitro. A dose- and time-dependent suppression of spleen cell blastogenic response was produced by the CKS-10 peptide. When bone marrow cells were incubated with decapeptide, the significant decrease of CFU-GM colony number was also dose-dependent. In contrast, the same doses of CKS-10 peptide which induced a most significant inhibition of CFU-GM colony formation caused a marked increase of BFU-E colonies. A most pronounced effect of the peptide on bone marrow hematopoietic progenitor activity was produced by prolonged exposure to the peptide. Given the results of this study, it seems likely that, in addition to the cytopathic effect of retroviruses on the lymphocytes, viral peptide-mediated hematopoiesis disorders may also play an important role in the pathogenesis of immunodeficiency associated with retroviral infections.

[Functional activity of T-, B-lymphocytes, and macrophages during suppression of expression of the env gene from an endogenous retrovirus genome]. / Funktsional'naia aktivnost' T-, B-limfotsitov i makrofagov v usloviiakhpodavleniia ékspressii gena env éndogennogo retrovirusnogo genoma.

Incubation of murine spleen cells with antisense oligonucleotide complementary to initiation site of this gene highly increased RNA synthesis relative to the normal T- and B-lymphocytes from spleen. In macrophages, inhibition of gene env expression stimulated phagocytosis and IL-1 production. Under these conditions, the level of expression of proviral envelope transmembrane p15E protein, which in infectious type C retroviruses is known to be immunosuppressive, decreased in spleen cells. Antisense oligonucleotide stimulatory effect on murine spleen cell RNA synthesis is presumably related to the reduced production of endogenous p15E.

[Effect of inactivated Ebola virus on colony forming activity of human hematopoietic stem cells]. / Vliianie inaktivirovannogo virusa Ebola na kolonieobrazuiushchuiu aktivnost' gemopoéticheskikh predshestvennikov u cheloveka.

The effect of Ebola virus antigen on the growth of hemopoietic precursors was studied. Incubation of mononuclear cells with the viral antigen led to a dose-dependent decrease of erythroid colony formation but did not alter the growth of the granulocyto-macrophagal precursors. Hence, Ebola virus antigen is capable of directly affecting the hemopoietic activity of precursors in man by inhibiting the growth of erythroid colonies.

[Attempts to develop a vaccine against Ebola fever]. / Popytka polucheniia vaktsiny protiv likhoradki Ebola.

Data on the immunopathogenesis of Ebola fever in laboratory animals are presented and the efficacy of some methods of vaccine prophylaxis discussed. Antiviral immunity induced in guinea pigs by injection of inactivated viral agents did not protect them from infection, whereas injections of a nonlethal strain of the virus in ascending doses led to the formation of immunity preventing the development of disease upon inoculation with a lethal strain in high doses. The role of some viral peptides in the development of immune response is shown and variants of recombinant constructions for the prevention of Ebola fever are offered.

A method of immobilization on the solid support of complex and simple enzymes retaining their activity.

Immobilization of native proteins, retaining their activity, on the solid support is often crucial for a variety of biochemical assays involving protein-protein interactions. In this study we describe a technique which allows binding of both complex (protein kinase CK2) and simple (calf intestine alkaline phosphatase, CIP) enzymes to the solid support without denaturization of the proteins. This method is based on the covalent cross-linking of the enzymes to the bifunctional resin, containing the secondary amino and thiol groups, in a coupling reaction with the imidoester dimethyl pimelimidate hydrochloride. Both enzymes in their bound form were active in the specific biochemical assays. We also found that the CK2 and CIP resins did not change their activity for at least 3 months, and the quality of these resins were not affected by high salts or reducing agents. Thus, this method can be recommended for general use to generate active enzymes coupled to the solid support.

Physical and functional interaction between two pluripotent proteins, the Y-box DNA/RNA-binding factor, YB-1, and the multivalent zinc finger factor, CTCF.

CTCF is a unique, highly conserved, and ubiquitously expressed 11 zinc finger (ZF) transcriptional factor with multiple DNA site specificities. It is able to bind to varying target sequences to perform different regulatory roles, including promoter activation or repression, creating hormone-responsive gene silencing elements, and functional block of enhancer-promoter interactions. Because different sets of ZFs are utilized to recognize different CTCF target DNA sites, each of the diverse DNA.CTCF complexes might engage different essential protein partners to define distinct functional readouts. To identify such proteins, we developed an affinity chromatography method based on matrix-immobilized purified recombinant CTCF. This approach resulted in isolation of several CTCF protein partners. One of these was identified as the multifunctional Y-box DNA/RNA-binding factor, YB-1, known to be involved in transcription, replication, and RNA processing. We examined CTCF/YB-1 interaction by reciprocal immunoprecipitation experiments with anti-CTCF and anti-YB-1 antibodies, and found that CTCF and YB-1 form complexes in vivo. We show that the bacterially expressed ZF domain of CTCF is fully sufficient to retain YB-1 in vitro. To assess possible functional significance of CTCF/YB-1 binding, we employed the very first identified by us, negatively regulated, target for CTCF (c-myc oncogene promoter) as a model in co-transfection assays with both CTCF and YB-1 expression vectors. Although expression of YB-1 alone had no effect, co-expression with CTCF resulted in a marked enhancement of CTCF-driven c-myc transcriptional repression. Thus our findings demonstrate, for the first time, the biological relevance of the CTCF/YB-1 interaction.