|
|
||||||||
B Mediate Lipopolysaccharide-Induced HIV-1 Long Terminal Repeat Transcription in Macrophages1





*
Pulmonary Center and Departments of
Pathology and
Microbiology, Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA 02118
| Abstract |
|---|
|
|
|---|
B motifs at the tetrameric core sequence TTCC. In
macrophages, LPS-inducible HIV-1 gene expression is mediated in part by
binding of NF-
B to identical tandem binding sites located within the
long terminal repeat (LTR). Thus, we performed additional studies to
determine whether PU.1 also played a role in regulating HIV-1 gene
expression in macrophages. Our functional studies revealed that
activation of the HIV-1 LTR in LPS-stimulated cells requires both
NF-
B and PU.1. Extensive mutagenesis of the HIV-1 LTR revealed that
PU.1-dependent activation requires the Ets motif within the upstream
NF-
B site, whereas NF-
B itself binds to the downstream site. We
also found that insertion of five additional nucleotides between the
NF-
B sites abolished LPS inducibility, suggesting a direct
interaction between factors that bind these sites. Lastly, we found
that mutation of PU.1 at serine 148, which prevents its phosphorylation
by CK2, blocked its ability to activate the HIV-1 LTR in response to
LPS. These effects were promoter specific because PU.1 did not affect
LPS-inducible activation of a distinct NF-
B-dependent promoter.
While these data do not demonstrate direct binding of PU.1 to the HIV-1
LTR, they illustrate a novel role for PU.1 in activation of the HIV-1
LTR by LPS. | Introduction |
|---|
|
|
|---|
B (1, 3, 4), SP1 (5, 6), and C/EBP (7, 8). NF-
B is a dimer comprised of
several related family members, including p50, p52, p65 (RelA), c-Rel,
and RelB (reviewed in 9 . NF-
B binds to the decameric DNA
consensus sequence GGGRNNYYCC and thereby activates transcription.
The LPS-inducible element within the HIV-1 LTR contains two tandem
copies of the NF-
B binding sequence GGGACTTTCC (3). Deletion or
mutation of both NF-
B binding sites within the HIV-1 LTR abolished
LPS-inducible viral gene expression (1, 4, 10), although recent studies
have suggested that NF-
B alone is not sufficient for transcriptional
activation of the LTR (11, 12).
Several lines of evidence prompted us to examine whether the tandem
NF-
B motifs within the HIV-1 LTR bind additional factors that
mediate LPS-stimulated HIV-1 transcription in monocytic cells. Seth et
al. noted that the pyrimidine-rich sequence TTCC, located within the 3'
half of the NF-
B consensus motif and base-paired with GGAA on the
complementary strand, is the core binding site recognized by members of
the Ets family of transcription factors (13). These authors also
presented indirect evidence that Ets proteins could regulate HIV-1 LTR
function. More recently, Bassuk et al. reported that Ets proteins could
physically interact with the p50 NF-
B subunit in a DNA-dependent
manner and that this interaction was required for synergistic
transcriptional activation of the HIV-1 LTR (14). Furthermore, Flory et
al. suggested that Raf-1-dependent activation of the HIV-1 LTR in T
cells was mediated by the binding of GABP, and not NF-
B, to the
tandem NF-
B motifs (15). GABP is a heterodimeric transcription
factor consisting of an Ets-like
-chain and a ß-chain that
contains ankyrin-like repeats. These findings led us to address the
possibility that PU.1, a major Ets protein found in monocytic cells,
could mediate LPS-inducible HIV-1 LTR function.
PU.1 has been identified as a transcription factor that regulates
several myeloid-specific genes, including IL-1ß, the macrophage CSF
receptor, the macrophage scavenger receptor, the human high affinity
IgG receptor (Fc
R1b), CD11b, and the common ß subunit of the IL-3,
granulocyte-macrophage CSF, and IL-5 receptors (reviewed in 16 .
PU.1 has also been shown to control gene expression via interaction
with other transcription factors. In B cells, PU.1 promotes binding of
the nuclear factor, PIP (also termed NF-EM5 and IRF-4), to an adjacent
site on the Ig
light chain 3' enhancer (17). This interaction
between PU.1 and PIP required phosphorylation of serine residue 148 on
PU.1, a known site for phosphorylation by protein kinase CK2 both in
vitro and in vivo (18). We recently demonstrated that the
trans-activation function of PU.1 was up-regulated in
LPS-stimulated murine macrophages (19, 20). This finding was notable
because PU.1 is constitutively expressed in macrophages, and its
DNA-binding activity is unchanged following LPS stimulation. We also
found that LPS stimulation resulted in the phosphorylation of PU.1 at
serine 148, an event that was required for enhancement of its
trans-activation function. In this study we tested the
hypotheses that PU.1 could regulate LPS-inducible activation of the
HIV-1 LTR and that phosphorylation of PU.1 at serine 148 by CK2 was
required for this activation.
| Materials and Methods |
|---|
|
|
|---|
MonoMac 6-transformed human monocytic cells were maintained in AIM-V serum-free medium (Life Technologies, Gaithersburg, MD). Cells were cultured at 37°C in the presence of 5% CO2 in a humidified incubator. The HT1080/CD14 human fibroblast cell line was previously described (21). HT1080/CD14 cells were maintained in high glucose DMEM culture medium (BioWhittaker, Walkersville, MD) supplemented with 10% heat-inactivated FBS (HyClone Laboratories, Logan, UT), 10 mM HEPES (BioWhittaker), 2 mM L-glutamine (BioWhittaker), 100 U/ml penicillin (BioWhittaker), and 100 µg/ml streptomycin (BioWhittaker). These cells were discarded after 1 mo in culture, and fresh cultures were prepared from frozen stocks. The murine macrophage RAW264.7 cell line was obtained from the American Type Culture Collection (Rockville, MD). RAW264.7 cells were maintained in DMEM culture medium with supplements as described above. LPS levels in all medium components were <10 pg/ml (final concentration). Cells were stimulated by adding LPS (Escherichia coli serotype 055:B5, Sigma, St. Louis, MO) to a final concentration of 1 µg/ml for the periods indicated in the text.
Plasmids
The I
B-2N dominant-negative mutant I
B expression plasmid,
generated by site-directed mutagenesis to replace the serine codons at
positions 32 and 36 with alanine codons, was provided by Dr. John
Hiscott (McGill University, Montreal, Quebec, Canada) and was
previously described (22). The Tat expression plasmid pCMVcTat, which
contains a cDNA including both coding exons of HIV-1 Tat under the
transcriptional control of the CMV immediate early promoter, was
provided by Dr. Michael Green (University of Massachusetts Medical
Center, Worcester, MA) and was previously described (23). Full-length
native and mutant murine PU.1 cDNAs cloned into the eukaryotic
expression plasmid pECE were provided by Dr. Charles Van Beveren
(Sidney Kimmel Cancer Center, San Diego, CA) and were previously
described (18). Expression of these cDNAs was under the control of the
SV40 promoter and enhancer. The mutant PU.1 cDNA (termed S148A) was
generated by site-directed mutagenesis to replace the serine codon at
position 148 with an alanine codon.
The reporter plasmids pILIC-CAT and pdI-NF-CAT were described
previously (24). pILIC-CAT contains a portion of the LTR from
HIV-1LAV, including the entire U3 region and extending
to position +81 relative to the start site of transcription. The
pdI-NF-CAT contains a BclI restriction enzyme recognition
site in the place of nucleotides at positions -107 to -78. This
region constitutes the core enhancer and contains the binding sites for
the transcription factor NF-
B. The pIL-2R
-CAT plasmid, containing
a CAT gene immediately downstream of the IL-2R
-chain (IL-2R)
promoter sequence (positions -317 to +109), was provided by Dr. Stefan
Doerre (Boston University School of Medicine, Boston, MA) and was
previously described (25). The pSV2d-CAT plasmid contains an SV40
promoter directing the expression of a nonfunctional CAT gene (26).
pCMV5 contains the CMV immediate early promoter and human growth
hormone transcriptional termination and polyadenylation sequences (27).
A Rous sarcoma virus-luciferase reporter plasmid was provided by Dr.
Stefan Doerre (Boston University School of Medicine) and was previously
described (28).
Oligonucleotide-directed mutagenesis
Two rounds of PCR were used to generate four reporter plasmids
containing 6-bp (TTCGAA) substitution mutations sequentially positioned
between nucleotide positions -110 and -86 of the HIV-1 LTR. The first
round of PCR used a 5' primer
(5'-TACTTCGATCGATCGGTCAAGGCACTTCAAGAACGTCGTACATCG-3')
corresponding to the HIV-1 sequences -139 to -118. This primer also
contained a 23-bp tag sequence at its 5' end (underlined). Each 3'
primer contained the 6-bp substitution flanked by 10 to 12 bp of
wild-type sequence. In the first round of PCR, these primers were used
to amplify an HIV-1LAV template. Products from this
first round of amplification were purified and used in limiting amounts
as 5' primers in a second round of PCR. To ensure that the final PCR
product contained the desired mutation, a second 5' primer
corresponding to the 23-bp tag was also included. The 3' primer in this
second round of PCR was homologous to HIV-1 sequences +57 to +84. A PCR
product containing a 5-bp insertion between the HIV-1 NF-
B binding
sites was also generated (GGGACTTTCCGCTTCGAAGGGGACTTTCC,
insertion underlined). The final PCR products, containing the various
mutant LTR sequences, were cloned upstream of the bacterial CAT gene,
SV40 transcription termination, and polyadenylation sequences into the
vector pSP72 (Promega). All inserts were confirmed by DNA sequence
analysis. The reporter plasmids containing the 6-bp substitutions were
designated m87, m93, m99, and m105 (Fig. 1
).
|
B motifs (GGGACTTTCC) were mutated to CTCACTTTCC
(designated PZ mutants, changes underlined) or to
GGGACTCTCC (designated Ets-less (EL) mutants, change
underlined). The PZ mutations were previously shown to abolish the
binding of NF-
B (1), but this sequence should retain the ability to
bind PU.1. The EL mutations lack the TTCC core motif and, therefore,
should not bind PU.1. The EL mutant sequence contains the same NF-
B
3' half-site found in the IL-2R gene (GGGAATCTCC). The ability of the
EL mutant sequence to bind NF-
B was demonstrated by its ability to
specifically compete for binding of NF-
B to the native sequence in a
gel mobility shift assay (data not shown). Transient transfection and reporter assays
The HT1080/CD14 line was engineered by stably transfecting HT1080 human fibrosarcoma cells with an expression plasmid containing the human CD14 cDNA and was previously described (21). The HT1080/CD14 cells were transfected by lipofection as previously described (20). The RAW264.7 cells were transfected by the same method with the following modifications. Briefly, RAW264.7 cells were cultured at a density of 2 x 105 cells 2 days before transfection in 35-mm tissue culture dishes (Costar, Cambridge, MA). Before transfection, cells were washed and cultured in serum-free DMEM supplemented with 10 mM HEPES (1 ml/35-mm dish). Plasmid DNA (3 µg of total DNA) was ethanol precipitated and resuspended in serum-free medium at a final concentration of 1 µg/µl. For each transfection, 3 µg of total DNA was added to 100 µl of serum-free medium and mixed with 6 µl of Lipofectamine reagent (Life Technologies) and an additional 100 µl of serum-free medium. The Lipofectamine/DNA mixture was incubated for 15 min at room temperature. Following incubation, 800 µl of serum-free medium was slowly overlaid onto the Lipofectamine/DNA complexes and allowed to incubate for an additional 15 min at room temperature. The entire Lipofectamine/DNA mixture (1.1 ml) was then incubated with the cells for 5 h. After 5 h, the cells were diluted with 2 ml of medium containing 20% FBS and then incubated overnight. The next day, the culture medium was replaced with fresh DMEM. LPS was then added to some dishes at a final concentration of 1 µg/µl as indicated in the text. Cells were cultured for an additional 24 to 48 h as indicated in the text. Cells were then harvested and lysed, and the protein concentrations were determined. Lysates (40 µg each of lysates prepared from each transfection) were assayed in duplicate for CAT activity using the two-phase fluor diffusion assay exactly as previously described (29). CAT activity is measured as the average slope (time vs accumulation of acetylated chloramphenicol) ± SEM. All transfection experiments were repeated at least three times using different plasmid preparations, and a single representative experiment is shown.
MonoMac 6 cells were seeded at a density of 2 - 3 x
105 cells/ml 3 days before transfection. These cells
(5 x 106 cells) were transfected by electroporation
in 1 ml of serum-free medium. A Life Technologies Cell-Porator was used
with settings of 800 µF and 300 V. All electroporations were
performed at room temperature. Fifteen micrograms of reporter plasmid
was used for each transfection. When included, 2.5 µg of the Tat
expression plasmid or 15 µg of the dominant negative mutant I
B
plasmid were used. Additional pSV2d-CAT DNA was added to bring the
total amount of DNA used in each transfection to 30 µg. Transfections
were performed in duplicate and then split into two aliquots, one of
which was treated with LPS (1 µg/ml) as indicated in the text. Cells
were harvested 24 h after treatment and lysed, and intracellular
CAT activity was measured as described above.
| Results |
|---|
|
|
|---|
Based on evidence that the Ets-like protein GABP
could
regulate HIV-1 LTR activation in T cells (15), we asked whether PU.1
could serve a similar function in LPS-stimulated cells. HT1080/CD14
cells (which naturally lack PU.1) were cotransfected with a PU.1
expression plasmid and either a CAT reporter under the control of the
HIV-1 LTR or an LTR in which the tandem NF-
B motifs were deleted
(positions -117 to -70). Following transfection, the cells were
stimulated with LPS and were harvested 48 h later. Duplicate
transfected cell cultures were harvested without LPS stimulation. As
shown in Figure 2
A, both
reporter constructs did not express CAT activity in the absence of
either PU.1 or LPS stimulation. In contrast, cotransfection with the
PU.1 expression plasmid was able to induce a small amount of CAT
activity in an NF-
B-independent manner. Most strikingly, the LTR-CAT
reporter plasmid could not be activated by LPS alone, whereas cells
that were cotransfected with both the reporter plasmid and the PU.1
expression plasmid expressed high levels of CAT activity following LPS
stimulation. The mutant LTR reporter plasmid lacking the tandem NF-
B
sites did not show any increase in CAT activity following LPS
stimulation in the presence or the absence of PU.1. These data suggest
that PU.1 can activate the HIV-1 LTR in LPS-stimulated cells, and that
the tandem NF-
B motifs are required for this effect. The inability
of LPS to induce CAT expression in the absence of PU.1 was not due to a
lack of NF-
B, because our previous studies demonstrated the presence
of nuclear NF-
B in LPS-stimulated HT1080/CD14 cells (21). Western
blot analysis showed that the NF-
B subunits p50 and p65 (RelA) were
present in nuclear extracts from these cells (data not shown).
Experiments reported below will show that this nuclear NF-
B is
capable of activating transcription of a PU.1-independent promoter.
|
B site could be
activated in HT1080/CD14 cells by LPS (data not shown).
Mutation of PU.1 binding sites within the NF-
B motifs abolishes
LPS inducibility of the HIV-1 LTR
The 3' half of each HIV-1 LTR NF-
B motif contains a core Ets
binding site (GGAA in the reverse orientation). Several studies have
suggested that Ets proteins can bind to the LTR NF-
B motifs at these
core sequences (13, 14, 15). To identify sequences within the NF-
B
motifs that were required for PU.1-dependent expression of the LTR in
LPS-stimulated cells, we tested a series of reporter plasmids
containing specific mutations within the 5' and 3' halves of each
NF-
B motif. These linker-scanning mutations were generated as
described above and are shown in Figure 1
. These mutant reporter
plasmids were transfected into MonoMac 6 cells, stimulated with LPS,
and then harvested 48 h later. These cells constitutively express
high levels of endogenous PU.1 (data not shown). As shown in Figure 3
A, we found that mutations at
either NF-
B 5' half-site (m105 and m93) could still be activated by
LPS stimulation. In contrast, mutations at either NF-
B 3' half-site
(m99 and m87, which destroy the putative PU.1 binding site) could not
be activated by LPS. The same results were obtained using RAW264.7
macrophages (Fig. 3
B). These cells also
constitutively express high levels of endogenous PU.1 (20). We
subsequently cotransfected the mutant reporter plasmids along with a
PU.1 expression plasmid into HT1080/CD14 cells, stimulated the cells
with LPS, and then harvested the cells 24 h later. We again found
that mutation of either NF-
B 3' half-site (m99 and m87) abolished
LPS inducibility (Fig. 3
C), thus confirming the
results obtained using the MonoMac 6 and RAW264.7 cells. Together,
these data demonstrate that at least one functional Ets motif contained
within the NF-
B 3' half-site is necessary for LPS-inducible
expression of the HIV-1 LTR. In contrast to data obtained using the
monocytic cells, the LTR-CAT reporter construct alone was not
responsive to LPS stimulation in HT1080/CD14 cells (Fig. 3
C), presumably due to the absence of endogenous PU.1
in these cells. Because LPS is known to activate NF-
B in these cells
(30), this finding demonstrates that NF-
B alone is insufficient to
direct activation of the viral LTR. These data do not argue against a
role for NF-
B in LPS-inducible expression of the HIV-1 LTR, but
suggest that PU.1 is also required for LPS responsiveness. Data
directly demonstrating a role for NF-
B in LPS responsiveness of the
HIV-LTR will be presented later in this section.
|
B binding within the HIV-1 LTR
The results described above showed that both NF-
B 3' half-sites
within the tandem repeat are required, but did not indicate which
factor requires which site. Previous studies demonstrated that only one
of the tandem NF-
B binding sites is likely to be occupied at any one
time (31), suggesting that the adjacent site could be bound by either
PU.1 or a PU.1-inducible Ets protein. To determine which site was bound
by such an Ets protein, we used a panel of Ets-less (EL) mutations in
which the TTCC core motif was mutated to CTCC. This generated an
NF-
B binding site that did not have the capacity to bind PU.1 or
other Ets proteins. HIV-1 LTR reporter plasmids were generated in which
the upstream, downstream, or both Ets sites were mutated. These
reporter plasmids were transfected into RAW264 cells, stimulated with
LPS, and harvested 24 h later. As shown in Figure 4
A, we found that mutations at
the downstream NF-
B site that abolished Ets protein binding (3'EL)
could still be activated by LPS stimulation. In contrast, mutations at
the upstream NF-
B site that abolished Ets protein binding (5'EL)
could not be activated by LPS. Similarly, mutations at both NF-
B
sites (dbl-EL) could not be activated by LPS. These data demonstrate
that NF-
B binds to the downstream NF-
B site, whereas an Ets
protein binds to the upstream site. The same results were obtained when
these mutant reporter plasmids were cotransfected with a PU.1
expression plasmid into HT1080/CD14 cells (Fig. 4
B).
Although our data are consistent with the findings of Sweet et al., who
used gel mobility shift assays to show that PU.1 bound to the upstream,
but not to the downstream, NF-
B site within the HIV-1 LTR (32), they
do not demonstrate that PU.1 directly binds to the HIV-1 LTR in our
system.
|
B bound to the downstream site was
inconsistent with our result obtained using the m93 mutant, which
showed that mutations designed to block NF-
B binding at this
downstream site did not substantially block LPS induction of the LTR
(Fig. 4
B. To test this
possibility, we constructed an additional mutant reporter plasmid in
which the downstream NF-
B site (GGGACTTTCC) was mutated to
CTCACTTTCC (designated 3'PZ). These substitutions were previously
shown to block NF-
B binding and function (1). The 3'PZ and m93
reporter plasmids were transfected into RAW264 cells, stimulated with
LPS, and then harvested 24 h later. As shown in Figure 4
B sites (dbl-PZ) could not be activated by LPS,
consistent with results obtained using the dbl-EL mutant (Fig. 4
B binding to
the downstream site in the living cell. Subsequent experiments revealed
that unlabeled competitor DNA containing a single copy of the same
mutant NF-
B site used in the m93 mutant (CGAACTTTCC) could
effectively compete for NF-
B binding in a gel-shift assay (data not
shown), thus further supporting our contention that the m93 mutant
could bind NF-
B, albeit with lower affinity.
A dominant-negative I
B mutant protein blocks LPS-inducible
activation of the HIV-1 LTR
Our data demonstrate that PU.1 is required for LPS-inducible
expression of the HIV-1 LTR in LPS-stimulated cells, but do not exclude
the possibility that NF-
B is also required (i.e.
that each factor is required, but only both are sufficient) for
LPS-inducible expression. To determine whether NF-
B is also
necessary to activate the HIV-1 LTR, we used a dominant-negative
I
B
mutant protein to prevent dissociation of NF-
B from
I
B
following LPS stimulation. RAW264.7 cells were cotransfected
with the HIV-LTR reporter plasmid and a dominant-negative I
B
mutant expression plasmid. After transfection, cells were stimulated
with LPS and were harvested 24 h later. Duplicate transfected cell
cultures were harvested without LPS stimulation. As shown in Figure 5
A, CAT expression was
observed in cells transfected with the HIV-1 LTR reporter plasmid and
stimulated with LPS. This LPS-inducible activation of the HIV-LTR was
completely blocked by the dominant-negative I
B
mutant. Virtually
identical results were obtained using LPS-stimulated HT1080/CD14 cells
cotransfected with the PU.1 expression plasmid (Fig. 5
B). The specificity of these results was confirmed
by the demonstration that expression of neither a reporter gene under
the control of the NF-
B-independent Rous sarcoma virus LTR nor a
reporter gene under the control of the PU.1-dependent CD11b promoter
was affected by the dominant-negative I
B
mutant (data not shown).
Together, these results strongly support the conclusion that both PU.1
and NF-
B are required for LPS-induced activation of the HIV-1
LTR.
|
B
The tandem NF-
B binding sites within the LTR are located
approximately 10 bp apart, and therefore one helical turn apart, on the
DNA. This raised the possibility that PU.1 or a PU.1-inducible Ets
protein could physically interact with NF-
B when bound to the LTR.
To test this possibility, we constructed an additional mutant reporter
plasmid in which the upstream and downstream NF-
B sites were
separated by a 5-bp spacer. The spacer mutant reporter plasmid was
transfected into RAW264 cells, stimulated with LPS, and then harvested
24 h later. As shown in Figure 6
, we
found that the spacer mutant could not be activated by LPS stimulation.
The same results were obtained when this mutant reporter plasmid was
cotransfected with a PU.1 expression plasmid into HT1080/CD14 cells
(data not shown). This finding suggests that physical interaction
between an Ets protein and NF-
B is required for activation of the
LTR by LPS. Such an interaction is consistent with the findings of
Bassuk et al., who showed that the p50 NF-
B subunit could physically
bind to Ets proteins (14). These associations were mediated by
interaction between the Rel homology domain and the Ets homology domain
of the two proteins.
|
B-dependent regulation and did not affect the ability of this
promoter to be regulated by the basal transcriptional machinery. The
mutant reporter plasmids were cotransfected with the Tat expression
plasmid into both RAW264 and HT1080/CD14 cells. The cells were then
stimulated with LPS and were harvested 24 h later. In both cell
lines, Tat was capable of activating reporter gene expression (data not
shown), consistent with the PU.1- and NF-
B-independent nature of Tat
action (33). Serine 148 on PU.1 is necessary for LPS-inducible activation of the HIV-1 LTR
We previously showed that serine 148 was necessary for
LPS-inducible expression of a PU.1-dependent reporter plasmid (20).
Therefore, we hypothesized that the same residue would be important for
PU.1-dependent activation of the HIV-1 LTR in LPS-stimulated cells.
HT1080/CD14 cells were cotransfected with the HIV-LTR reporter plasmid
and either a wild-type PU.1 expression plasmid or a mutant PU.1
expression plasmid in which the serine 148 codon was mutated to an
alanine codon (S148A). After transfection, cells were stimulated with
LPS and harvested 48 h later. Duplicate transfected cell cultures
were harvested without LPS stimulation. As shown in Figure 7
, LPS-inducible CAT activity was
observed only when the HIV-1 LTR reporter plasmid was cotransfected
with the wild-type PU.1 expression plasmid. The S148A mutant was unable
to mediate LPS-induced LTR activation. These results demonstrate that
serine 148 is required for the ability of PU.1 to activate the LTR.
These data are consistent with the functional importance of serine 148
previously demonstrated in B cells (18) and macrophages (20).
|
Our data suggest that PU.1 can regulate HIV-1 LTR expression
based on its ability to use NF-
B 3' half-sites that contain the TTCC
Ets core motif. Many inducible cytokine promoters contain functional
NF-
B sites that possess potential Ets binding sites (e.g., IFN-ß,
TNF-
, IL-6, IP-10, and lymphotoxin). We subsequently evaluated the
ability of PU.1 to regulate the expression of a distinct
NF-
B-dependent promoter. For these studies we used a reporter
plasmid containing the human IL-2R promoter. The NF-
B site within
this promoter (GGGAATCTCC) has been shown to be critical for IL-2R
expression (25). While this NF-
B site lacks a TTCC Ets core motif
within the 3' half-site, it does possess the complementary sequence
(GGAA) within the 5' half-site. We cotransfected HT1080/CD14 cells with
this IL-2R-CAT reporter plasmid and a PU.1 expression plasmid to
determine whether PU.1 had any effect on LPS activation of the IL-2R
promoter. As shown in Figure 8
, cells
transfected with the IL-2R reporter construct expressed CAT activity
following LPS stimulation. Furthermore, cotransfection with the PU.1
expression plasmid had no effect on LPS-inducible CAT expression. These
findings demonstrate that PU.1 does not mediate LPS-inducible
activation of the NF-
B-dependent IL-2R promoter and suggest that
only a subset of NF-
B-dependent promoters is also PU.1 dependent. We
hypothesize that some NF-
B motifs that contain 3' PU.1 core binding
sites might confer PU.1-dependent LPS-inducible expression, whereas
NF-
B motifs that lack a 3' PU.1 core binding site would probably be
PU.1 independent. Potential explanations for the inability of the Ets
core motif within the 5' half-site to confer PU.1-dependent expression
will be discussed below.
|
| Discussion |
|---|
|
|
|---|
B sites within the viral LTR at conserved TTCC motifs. An
additional aim of these studies was to determine whether LPS-induced
phosphorylation could modulate the ability of PU.1 to regulate HIV-1
gene expression in macrophages following LPS stimulation. We have shown
here that activation of the HIV-1 LTR in LPS-stimulated cells requires
both PU.1 and NF-
B. PU.1 appears to use the upstream NF-
B site
within the LTR at the TTCC motif, whereas NF-
B binds to the
downstream site. Activation of NF-
B in an LPS-responsive cell line
lacking PU.1 was not sufficient to induce HIV-1 LTR transcription.
Furthermore, transfection of this line with a PU.1 expression plasmid
was sufficient to restore LPS-inducible transcription of the HIV-LTR.
We also found that mutation of PU.1 at serine 148, which prevents its
phosphorylation by CK2, blocked its ability to activate the HIV-1 LTR
in response to LPS. These effects were promoter specific, because PU.1
was not required for LPS-inducible activation of the NF-
B-dependent
IL-2R promoter. Thus, there appears to be a subset of NF-
B motifs
that can interact with PU.1. These studies demonstrate a novel role for
PU.1 in activation of the HIV-1 LTR by LPS.
Our data revealed that mutation of either NF-
B 3' half-site within
the HIV-1 LTR (i.e., the putative Ets binding sites) abolished
LPS-inducible expression, and expression of a dominant-negative
I
B
mutant protein also abolished LPS-inducible expression of the
viral LTR. Furthermore, we confirmed an earlier finding that mutation
at both 5' half-sites abolished LPS-inducible expression (1). Together,
these findings demonstrate that both NF-
B and PU.1 are required for
activation of the HIV-1 LTR by LPS. Two previous studies add to our
understanding of the molecular basis for activation of the viral LTR by
LPS. First, Gaynor et al. reported that each of the tandem NF-
B
motifs was capable of binding factors independently, and that the HIV-1
LTR was occupied by only one NF-
B molecule at any one time (31).
Second, Baldwin and Sharp used methylation interference footprinting to
show that NF-
B binding to DNA involves contact with guanidine
residues within the GGAA core PU.1 binding motif (34). Furthermore, we
have previously shown that PU.1 also contacts the DNA at these
guanidine residues (35). Taken together, these two observations suggest
that a single NF-
B motif could not bind PU.1 and NF-
B
simultaneously. These data are consistent with a model in which a
single LTR binds a single molecule of PU.1 and a single molecule of
NF-
B. Because PU.1 and NF-
B potentially bind to sequences located
10 bp apart, a distance of one helical turn of DNA, we considered the
possibility that PU.1 and NF-
B could lie in close physical proximity
and could directly interact. We observed that a 5-bp insertion mutation
that displaced the two factors by one-half of a helical turn on the DNA
abrogated LPS inducibility, suggesting that PU.1 and NF-
B directly
interact.
Our demonstration that PU.1 is capable of regulating the function of
the HIV-1 LTR via interaction with the NF-
B motifs is consistent
with previous reports by other laboratories. For example, Bassuk et al.
recently showed that the p50 NF-
B subunit could physically bind to
Ets proteins (14). Flory et al. reported that the Ets-like protein GABP
could bind to and regulate the function of HIV-1 LTR NF-
B motifs
in a human T cell line (15). These investigators proposed that both
HIV-LTR NF-
B motifs were bound by the GABP heterodimer in T cells.
This contrasts with our data, which support a model in which both PU.1,
or a PU.1-inducible Ets protein, and NF-
B bind to the HIV-1 LTR. It
is unlikely that PU.1/Ets binds to both NF-
B motifs based on our
finding that a dominant-negative I
B
mutant blocked LPS-inducible
expression of the LTR. Furthermore, other investigators have used gel
mobility shift assays to show that PU.1 binds only to the upstream
NF-
B site (32). It should be emphasized that our data do not
directly demonstrate binding of PU.1 to the HIV-1 LTR and do not
exclude the possibility that additional Ets proteins may also regulate
activation of the HIV-1 LTR. PU.1 may also be required for expression
of an additional Ets protein that directly binds to the HIV-1
LTR.
Our finding that the PU.1 mutant S148A could not mediate LPS-inducible
expression of the HIV-1 LTR in transfected HT1080/CD14 cells suggests
that CK2 is part of the LPS signal transduction pathway that leads to
activation of HIV-1 gene expression by LPS. A similar role for CK2 was
previously reported to be required for activation of the Ig
-chain
3' enhancer by PU.1 (17, 18). We recently showed that S148A failed to
activate a PU.1-dependent promoter in LPS-stimulated HT1080/CD14 cells
(20). The studies reported here used the PU.1-deficient LPS-responsive
HT1080/CD14 cell line to demonstrate a requirement for both PU.1 and
serine 148, a site for phosphorylation by CK2. While it would have been
desirable to show that S148A could block LPS-inducible HIV-1 LTR
expression in monocytic cells, the high levels of wild-type PU.1 that
are constitutively present in these cells prevent effective use of
S148A as a dominant-negative mutant. Interestingly, CK2 was recently
reported to be a selective target of flavonoids that inhibit HIV-1
replication (36). Thus, flavonoids may inhibit HIV-1 gene expression by
blocking the phosphorylation and activation of PU.1 by CK2. Experiments
are currently underway to test this hypothesis.
A survey of NF-
B binding sites within the promoters of several
LPS-inducible genes reveals that many contain internal PU.1/Ets binding
motifs consisting of the consensus sequence TTCC. These genes include
TNF, IL-1R antagonist, inducible nitric oxide synthase, IP-10, IL-6,
and IL-8. The ability to directly observe binding of PU.1 to these
NF-
B motifs in vitro may depend on flanking sequences surrounding
the TTCC core motif. For example, PU.1 does not bind measurably to the
HIV-1 LTR NF-
B sites under standard gel-shift assay conditions, but
it does bind well to the NF-
B site within the IL-1R antagonist
promoter (M. J. Fenton and M. J. Smith, Jr., unpublished
observations). The IL-1R antagonist promoter NF-
B motif contains the
extended ANTTCCNT PU.1 consensus sequence, whereas the HIV-1 LTR
NF-
B motifs lack the outermost flanking nucleotides. The importance
of flanking sequences in determining the affinity of PU.1 for a
specific site containing the TTCC core motif has been previously
reported (37). The lack of specific flanking sequences required for
PU.1 binding may explain why the IL-2R promoter, which contains a GGAA
core motif and lacks consensus flanking nucleotides, is not
PU.1-dependent. Experiments are currently underway to determine the
role of PU.1 in the regulation of other NF-
B-dependent cytokine
promoters.
The effects of LPS on HIV-1 replication are complex and may reflect
action at more than one point in the virus replication cycle. Kornbluth
et al. initially reported that treatment of HIV-1-infected,
monocyte-derived macrophages with LPS repressed virus replication (38).
Repression was observed after LPS pretreatment and was associated with
a decrease in both integrated provirus and viral RNA accumulation,
suggesting an effect on reverse transcription and/or integration. In a
more recent study it was shown that LPS could either stimulate or
repress HIV-1 LTR-directed expression depending on the differentiation
status of the cell (39). Specifically, LTR-directed expression was
repressed in terminally differentiated macrophages, but was activated
in both a promonocytic cell line and in freshly isolated peripheral
monocytes. Whether this differential effect of LPS on HIV-1
transcription results from distinct interactions between NF-
B and
Ets-like proteins at the core enhancer remains to be determined.
| Acknowledgments |
|---|
| Footnotes |
|---|
2 Address correspondence to Dr. Matthew J. Fenton, The Pulmonary Center, University School of Medicine, 80 East Concord St., Boston, MA 02118-2394. E-mail address: ![]()
3 Abbreviations used in this paper: LTR, long terminal repeat; CAT, chloramphenicol acetyl transferase; GABP, GA-binding protein; EL, Ets-less; 3'EL, mutations at the downstream NF-
B site that abolished Ets protein binding; 5'-EL, mutations at the upstream NF-
B site that abolished NF-
B binding; dbl-EL, mutations at both Ets and NF-
B sites; IL-2R, IL-2R,
-chain. ![]()
Received for publication August 29, 1997. Accepted for publication February 20, 1998.
| References |
|---|
|
|
|---|
B in the immune system. Annu. Rev. Immunol. 12:141.[Medline]
B enhancer motif in human immunodeficiency virus type 1 and SV40 recognize different binding activities in human Jurkat and H9 T cells: evidence for NF-
B-independent activation of the
B motif. J. Virol. 66:7490.
B binding to the HIV-1 LTR is not sufficient to increase viral expression in the primary human astrocyte. Virology 205:586.[Medline]
B/NFAT proteins play an important role in their cooperative activation of the human immunodeficiency virus enhancer in T cells. J. Virol. 71:3563.[Abstract]
3' enhancer activity. Mol. Cell. Biol. 12:368.
B
in the C-terminal PEST domain by CKII affects intrinsic protein stability. Mol. Cell. Biol. 16:1401.[Abstract]
B binding sites in the human immunodeficiency virus type 1 long terminal repeat are not required for virus infectivity. J. Virol. 63:4919.
subunit (Tac or CD25 antigen) gene expression: binding of inducible nuclear proteins to discrete promoter sequences correlates with transcriptional activation. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 85:4468.
B p65-mediated transcriptional activation of the long terminal repeat of type 1 human immunodeficiency virus. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 90:1023.
B and H2TF1, interact with a single regulatory sequence in the class I major histocompatibility complex promoter. Proc. Natl. Acad. Sci. USA 85:723.This article has been cited by other articles:
![]() |
M. D. Liang, Y. Zhang, D. McDevit, S. Marecki, and B. S. Nikolajczyk The Interleukin-1beta Gene Is Transcribed from a Poised Promoter Architecture in Monocytes J. Biol. Chem., April 7, 2006; 281(14): 9227 - 9237. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
M. D. Wewers, S. Lemeshow, A. Lehman, T. L. Clanton, and P. T. Diaz Lung CD4 Lymphocytes Predict Survival in Asymptomatic HIV Infection Chest, October 1, 2005; 128(4): 2262 - 2267. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
D. C. McDevit, L. Perkins, M. L. Atchison, and B. S. Nikolajczyk The Ig{kappa}3' Enhancer Is Activated by Gradients of Chromatin Accessibility and Protein Association J. Immunol., March 1, 2005; 174(5): 2834 - 2842. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
T. M. Hanley, H. L. B. Kiefer, A. C. Schnitzler, J. E. Marcello, and G. A. Viglianti Retinoid-Dependent Restriction of Human Immunodeficiency Virus Type 1 Replication in Monocytes/Macrophages J. Virol., March 15, 2004; 78(6): 2819 - 2830. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
L. M. Johansen, A. Iwama, T. A. Lodie, K. Sasaki, D. W. Felsher, T. R. Golub, and D. G. Tenen c-Myc Is a Critical Target for C/EBP{alpha} in Granulopoiesis Mol. Cell. Biol., June 1, 2001; 21(11): 3789 - 3806. [Abstract] [Full Text] |
||||
![]() |
P. Regenhard, R. Goethe, and L. Phi-van Involvement of PKA, PKC, and Ca2+ in LPS-activated expression of the chicken lysozyme gene J. Leukoc. Biol., April 1, 2001; 69(4): 651 - 658. [Abstract] [Full Text] |
||||
![]() |
O. Equils, E. Faure, L. Thomas, Y. Bulut, S. Trushin, and M. Arditi Bacterial Lipopolysaccharide Activates HIV Long Terminal Repeat Through Toll-Like Receptor 4 J. Immunol., February 15, 2001; 166(4): 2342 - 2347. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
D. P. Sester, S. Naik, S. J. Beasley, D. A. Hume, and K. J. Stacey Phosphorothioate Backbone Modification Modulates Macrophage Activation by CpG DNA J. Immunol., October 15, 2000; 165(8): 4165 - 4173. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
A. M. Stutz and M. Woisetschlager Functional Synergism of STAT6 with Either NF-{kappa}B or PU.1 to Mediate IL-4-Induced Activation of IgE Germline Gene Transcription J. Immunol., October 15, 1999; 163(8): 4383 - 4391. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
S. Marecki, M. L. Atchison, and M. J. Fenton Differential Expression and Distinct Functions of IFN Regulatory Factor 4 and IFN Consensus Sequence Binding Protein in Macrophages J. Immunol., September 1, 1999; 163(5): 2713 - 2722. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
M. F. Smith Jr., V. S. Carl, T. Lodie, and M. J. Fenton Secretory Interleukin-1 Receptor Antagonist Gene Expression Requires both a PU.1 and a Novel Composite NF-kappa B/PU.1/ GA-binding Protein Binding Site J. Biol. Chem., September 11, 1998; 273(37): 24272 - 24279. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
![]() |
A. Krehan, H. Ansuini, O. Bocher, S. Grein, U. Wirkner, and W. Pyerin Transcription Factors Ets1, NF-kappa B, and Sp1 Are Major Determinants of the Promoter Activity of the Human Protein Kinase CK2alpha Gene J. Biol. Chem., June 9, 2000; 275(24): 18327 - 18336. [Abstract] [Full Text] [PDF] |
||||
| ||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||||
| HOME | HELP | FEEDBACK | SUBSCRIPTIONS | ARCHIVE | SEARCH | TABLE OF CONTENTS |