Abstract

Human granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (hGM-CSF) activates a set of genes such as c-fos, jun, myc, and early growth response gene 1 (egr-1). Studies on BA/F3 cells that express hGM-CSF receptor (hGMR) showed that two different signaling pathways controlled by distinct regions within the beta subunit are involved in activation of c-fos/c-jun genes and in c-myc, respectively. However, the region(s) of the beta subunit responsible for activation of the egr-1 gene and other regulatory genes has not been identified. We describe here how egr-1 promoter is activated by hGMR through two regions of the beta subunit, with these regions being required for activation of the c-fos promoter. Coexpression of dominant negative (dn) Ras (N17ras) or dn JAK2 almost completely suppressed the activation of egr-1 and c-fos promoters. Deletion analysis of egr-1 promoter showed two cis-acting regions responsible for activation by hGM-CSF or mouse interleukin-3 (mIL-3), one between nucleotide positions (nt) -56 and -116, and the other between nt -235 and -480, which contains tandem repeats of the serum response element (SRE) sites. Similar experiments with the c-fos promoter showed that cis-acting regions containing the SRE/AP-1 sites is sufficient for activation by hGM-CSF. Based on these observations, we propose that signaling pathways activating egr-1 and c-fos promoters are controlled by SRE elements, either through the same or overlapping pathways that involve JAK2 and Ras.

View details for Web of Science ID A1997WG79700010

View details for PubMedID 9028942