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Department of Clinical Chemistry and Transfusion Medicine, Sahlgrenska Academy at Göteborg University, Sahlgrenska University Hospital, S-413 45 Gothenburg, Sweden
Correspondence
Lars Rymo
lars.rymo{at}clinchem.gu.se
| ABSTRACT |
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The GenBank/EMBL/DDBJ accession number of the sequence reported in this paper is EF164992.
| INTRODUCTION |
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Several regulatory elements in the LMP1 ED-L1 promoter region have been shown to mediate both transcription repression and activation. The RBP-J
sites, a PU-box and an AP-2 consensus site confer activation of the promoter in an EBNA2-dependent manner. Other elements such as an Sp factor-binding site, cyclic AMP response element (CRE), E-box element, octamer-binding site and interferon-stimulated response element (ISRE) have been described to be involved in the regulation of the promoter in an EBNA2-independent manner (reviewed by Zetterberg & Rymo, 2005
). These studies have been carried out on the prototype B95-8 strain of EBV, which originates from a marmoset cell line infected with EBV from an IM patient (Miller et al., 1972
). However, sequence variations in the lmp1 gene have been reported for different EBV strains, both in the coding sequence and in the promoter region (Chen et al., 1992
; Hu et al., 1993
; Sandvej et al., 2000
; Takacs et al., 2001
; Zhou et al., 2001
). It is thus necessary to consider the effect of sequence variations in promoter regulation.
In this study, the LMP1 promoter in the EREB2.5-derived virus was sequenced to monitor possible differences between this strain and the B95-8 strain that may affect promoter regulation. The EREB2.5 cell line is a useful tool in the study of LMP1 as it is conditional for the activation of EBNA2, with the consequence that the LMP1 promoter can be switched on or off by the addition or removal of
-oestradiol from the medium (Kempkes et al., 1995
). The LMP1 sequence in EREB2.5 originates from the P3HR1 viral strain (Kempkes et al., 1995
). Sequencing of the LMP1 regulatory sequence (LRS), defined here as positions 634 to +40 relative to transcription start site (+1) in the P3HR1 virus, revealed 25 nt substitutions and one insertion when compared with the B95-8 sequence. One of the substitutions, a C to an A at position 43 relative to the transcription initiation site, was within the CRE element. Notably, sequence variations in this CRE site have also been found in several other EBV strains (Chen et al., 1992
; Hu et al., 1993
; Sandvej et al., 2000
; Takacs et al., 2001
; Zhou et al., 2001
). We have previously shown that the CRE element plays a significant role in LMP1 activation, both in an EBNA2-dependent and -independent manner (Sjoblom et al., 1998
). Here, we investigated the effect of CRE-sequence variants present in different EBV strains on the ability of the CRE-binding transcription factors to interact with the site in order to elucidate the functional consequences for the regulation of the LMP1 promoter.
| METHODS |
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A6 and control vector (pSV2gpt) have been described earlier (Ricksten et al., 1987
Cell culture, DNA transfections and reporter gene assays.
EREB2.5 is a transformed lymphoblastoid cell line expressing conditional EBNA2 (ER-EBNA2) and its activity is regulated by oestrogen (Kempkes et al., 1995
). Jijoye is an EBV-positive BL cell line (Pulvertaft, 1965
). WW1-LCL is an EBV-immortalized LCL cell line (Gregory et al., 1988
) and DG75 is an EBV-negative BL cell line (Ben-Bassat et al., 1977
). The cells were maintained as suspension cultures in RPMI 1640 medium supplemented with 10 % fetal calf serum (Life Technologies), 100 U penicillin ml1 and 100 µg streptomycin ml1. The EREB2.5 cell line was also supplemented with 1 µM
-oestradiol (
-oestradiol-water soluble; Sigma). Transient transfections were carried out by electroporation using 5x106 cells and 10 µg reporter plasmids as described previously (Sjoblom et al., 1998
). Co-transfections with 2.7 nmol DNA of the EBNA2 expression vector (pE
A6) or the empty vector (pSV2gpt) were done in DG75 cells. Cells were harvested after 48 h and assayed for luciferase activity using the Luciferase Assay System (Promega) according to the manufacturer's instructions. A TD 20/20 luminometer (Turner Design Instrument) was used for the detection of luciferase activity. In addition, half the cells harvested after transfection were used for immunoblot analysis in parallel to reporter assay.
Electrophoretic mobility-shift assays (EMSAs).
Nuclear extract preparation and the EMSA-binding reactions were carried out as described previously (Sjoblom et al., 1998
). All oligonucleotides were purchased from Invitrogen. EMSAs were carried out using double-stranded synthetic [
-32P]ATP-labelled oligonucleotides corresponding to LRS 50 to 19 position from B95-8, as well as the specific sequence variations in the CRE site detected in P3HR1, Rael, Raji or NPC with blunt ends as shown in Fig. 2
. A mutation introduced in the Sp1 site of all probes eliminated the binding of Sp1 factors and facilitated the interpretation of the factor-binding patterns (Sjoblom et al., 1998
). The competing oligonucleotides were added at an excess before the addition of the labelled probe and samples were incubated for 20 min at room temperature. In supershift experiments, after the 20 min incubation of nuclear extract with probe, 34 µl of the antibody was added and incubated for another 60 min at 4 °C. The antibodies CREB1 (sc-186x), CREB1 (sc-25785x), ATF1 (sc-270x), ATF2 (sc-187x), c-Jun (sc-1694x) and CREB2 (sc-200x) were purchased from Santa Cruz. The samples were separated by electrophoresis in 5 % polyacrylamide gels (acrylamide : bisacrylamide, 29 : 1) in 0.5x TBE for 3 h at 300 V. The bands were either visualized by autoradiography or exposed to a phosphoimage screen and scanned by a Typhoon 9200.
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| RESULTS AND DISCUSSION |
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ATF1 and CREB1 contain phosphorylation-dependent activation domains and become transcriptional activators when phosphorylated at specific serine or threonine residues (Livingstone et al., 1995
; Masson et al., 1993
; Shaywitz & Greenberg, 1999
; Sheng et al., 1991
) and several signalling pathways are responsible for their phosphorylation (Gupta et al., 1995
; van Dam et al., 1995
). These intracellular pathways are generally activated by inflammatory cytokines and cellular stress (Tibbles & Woodgett, 1999
). The stress responses are adaptive processes that include apoptosis, transformation, development, immune activation, inflammation and adaptation to environmental change (Tibbles & Woodgett, 1999
). A possible consequence of the decreased affinity of the CREB1ATF1 factors for the LMP1 CRE site may be that activation of the signalling pathways in response to the environmental stress signals would not lead to an upregulation of the expression of LMP1. The ability of the latently infected B cells to maintain a low level of LMP1 despite extracellular signalling in some cases might be of advantage in EBV biology.
P3HR1 CRE-sequence variant reduces LMP1 promoter activity in a B95-8 LRS context
In a previous study of B95-8 LRS, we found that a 2 bp transverse mutation at positions 40 and 41 in the CRE site reduced EBNA2-dependent activation fivefold in the context of the wild-type +40/106 part of B95-8 LRS (Sjoblom et al., 1998
). It has also been demonstrated that a 2 bp substitution at positions 42 and 43 in the corresponding LRS CRE site of the C33A virus leads to a threefold decrease of EBNA2-induced promoter activation (Chen et al., 1995
). To characterize further the consequences of sequence variation of this CRE site on LMP1 promoter transactivation, LRS from the B95-8 and P3HR1 strains cloned in luciferase reporter plasmids were co-transfected with an EBNA2 expression vector or a control vector into DG75 cells. Similar levels of EBNA2 expression in transfected cells were confirmed using immunoblot analysis (Fig. 3a
). The P3HR1-derived reporter plasmid displayed approximately 50 % less activity in the presence and absence of EBNA2 in comparison to the B95-8-derived reporter plasmid (Fig. 3a
). A reporter plasmid containing a B95-8 LRS region, in which the CRE element had been exchanged for the P3HR1-derived sequence [LRS B95-8 (CREP3HR1)], was induced by EBNA2 to approximately the same extent as the reporter plasmid with the P3HR1 LRS region and also had the same reduction in activity in the absence of EBNA2 (Fig. 3a
). This suggests that the reduced EBNA2 response of the P3HR1 LRS reporter plasmid was due to the single base pair substitution in the CRE site. Thus, this sequence variation in the LMP1 promoter in EREB2.5 cell line should be taken into consideration in studies of the regulation of LMP1 expression employing this cell line. Overall, the results suggest that reduced ATF1CREB1 affinity for the CRE site in LRS leads to reduced promoter activity. Given the fact that complex III had higher-binding efficiency to the P3HR1 probe (Fig. 2c
), it appears from reporter experiments (Fig. 3a
) as though this complex contributes to a lesser extent to EBNA2 inducibility of the LMP1 promoter and that this function is carried out mainly by the ATF1CREB1 heterodimers. Therefore, it is likely that sequence variations in the LRS CRE site of Raji, Rael and NPC viral strains and other strains with the same substitutions will lead to decreased promoter activity.
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Taken together our results suggest that the P3HR1 CRE sequence causes a change of its factor-binding properties as compared with the corresponding B95-8 site, and as a consequence a modulation of its efficiency in activation of the LMP1 promoter. In our model system this is manifested as a reduced affinity for the ATF1CREB1 factor complexes and a reduction of LMP1 promoter activation in the presence and absence of EBNA2. In our previous study, we showed that ATF1CREB1 transcription factors could activate the LMP1 promoter independently of EBNA2 (Sjoblom et al., 1998
). Thus, the sequence variation in this site also leads to a modulation of LMP1 expression in the absence of EBNA2.
The fact that LMP1 regulation is dependent on the cell type and latency programme is well documented (reviewed by Kieff & Rickinson, 2001
). Lam et al. (2004)
have reported that the levels of LMP1 vary as much as 100-fold in individual cells from the same clone and showed that the difference was because of different levels of transcript. Our study of LMP1 promoter activity in different cell lines is consistent with the notion that the activation of the LMP1 promoter is modulated both by the individual cellular context and the sequence variations and, hypothetically, epigenetic changes in the promoter. Thus, it is difficult to predict the precise physiological role of CRE-site sequence variations at different stages of EBV biology. Nonetheless, the selection of specific sequence variations in this site indicates an important regulatory function for this element in LMP1 expression. This is conceivable since a high level of LMP1 expression has been shown to induce cytostasis (Floettmann et al., 1996
; Sandberg et al., 2000
; Kaykas & Sugden, 2000
). A high level of expression also inhibits the activity of viral and cellular promoters in the absence of cytostasis (Narbonnet & Mariame, 2006
). Selection of regulatory sites with a reduced responsiveness to transcription factors without shutting it down, may regulate LMP1 expression to a steady-state level where cytostasis is prevented and cell survival is promoted. This hypothesis has been proposed by Chen et al. (1995)
and is strengthened by our findings.
It is finally interesting to note that sequence variations in the LMP1-encoding region are common among EBV strains and occur independently of EBV type or origin (Jenkins & Farrell, 1996
). A 30 bp deletion in the LMP1 coding sequence is so far the only sequence variation that has been functionally linked to enhanced transforming capacity (Hu et al., 1993
). Selection-driven evolution of LMP1 in virus isolates from south-east Asia towards a more malignant phenotype has been suggested from phylogenetic studies (Burrows et al., 2004
). Sandvej et al. (2000)
have shown that the B95-8 CRE-site variant is significantly more frequent in HD virus isolates than in isolates from IM patients and asymptomatic carriers. They hypothesize that a sequence variation leading to lower LMP1 expression levels is advantageous by reducing the frequency of LMP1 driven malignancies. The question whether particular CRE-site variants in the LMP1 promoter are linked to disease remains to be answered.
| ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS |
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Received 6 December 2006;
accepted 12 February 2007.
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