A polypyrimidine tract-binding protein-dependent pathway of mRNA stability initiates with CpG activation of primary B cells

J Immunol. 2008 Sep 1;181(5):3336-45. doi: 10.4049/jimmunol.181.5.3336.

Abstract

The mRNA encoding CD154, a critical protein involved in both humoral and cell-mediated immune responses, is regulated at the posttranscriptional level by the binding of complex I, a polypyrimidine tract-binding (PTB) protein-containing complex, which acts to increase message stability at late times of activation. Our current work focuses on analyzing a similar complex in B cells, designated B-cpx I, which is increased in B cells activated by CpG engagement of the TLR9 receptor but not by activation through CD40. Expression profiling of transcripts from primary B cells identified 31 mRNA transcripts with elevated PTB binding upon activation. Two of these transcripts, Rab8A and cyclin D(2), contained binding sites for B-cpx I in their 3' untranslated regions (UTRs). Analysis of turnover of endogenous Rab8A transcript in B cells revealed that like CD154, the mRNA half-life increased following activation and insertion of the Rab8A B-cpx I binding site into a heterologous transcript led to a 3-fold increase in stability. Also, short hairpin RNA down-regulation of PTB resulted in a corresponding decrease in Rab8A mRNA half-life. Overall these data strongly support a novel pathway of mRNA turnover that is expressed both in T cells and B cells and depends on the formation of a PTB-containing stability complex in response to cellular activation.

Publication types

  • Research Support, N.I.H., Extramural
  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • B-Lymphocytes / immunology*
  • Binding Sites
  • Cells, Cultured
  • Cyclin D2
  • Cyclins / genetics*
  • Cyclins / metabolism
  • Dinucleoside Phosphates / physiology*
  • Gene Expression Profiling
  • Humans
  • Lymphocyte Activation*
  • Polypyrimidine Tract-Binding Protein / metabolism*
  • Protein Binding
  • RNA Stability*
  • RNA, Messenger / analysis
  • RNA, Messenger / metabolism
  • rab GTP-Binding Proteins / genetics*
  • rab GTP-Binding Proteins / metabolism

Substances

  • CCND2 protein, human
  • Cyclin D2
  • Cyclins
  • Dinucleoside Phosphates
  • RNA, Messenger
  • Polypyrimidine Tract-Binding Protein
  • cytidylyl-3'-5'-guanosine
  • RAB8A protein, human
  • rab GTP-Binding Proteins