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J Biol Chem, Vol. 273, Issue 31, 19786-19791, July 31, 1998
From the Signal Transduction Laboratory, Mogam Biotechnology
Research Institute, 341 Pojungri, Koosungmyon, Yongingoon,
Kyunggido 449-910, Korea
Here, we established the inhibitory mechanism of
p53 on hepatitis B viral gene expression using HepG2 cells. Our results
are as follows. First, p53 down-regulated the activities of all four promoters of hepatitis B virus (HBV), suggestive of the presence of a
common element mediating the p53-dependent transcriptional repression. Second, employing the 5'-deletion constructs of the pregenomic/core promoter, the liver-specific enhancer II region was
localized as a target for the p53-mediated transcriptional repression.
Third, in a detailed analysis of the enhancer II region, the
5'-proximal 31-base pair region was defined as a p53-repressible element. Throughout the study, p53-mediated repression was rescued upon
coexpression of the X-gene product, HBx. Finally, in an electrophoretic mobility shift assay, the defined p53-repressible element did not bind
purified p53 directly, but shifted three bands in HepG2 nuclear
extract, two of which was supershifted upon addition of p53 monoclonal
antibody. These results display a novel mechanism of
p53-dependent transcriptional repression in which p53
negatively regulates the viral-specific DNA enhancer through protein to
protein interaction with an enhancer-binding protein. At the same time, the results indicate that p53 plays a defensive role against HBV by
transcriptionally repressing the HBV core promoter through liver-specific enhancer II and HBx is required to counteract this inhibitory function of p53.
Hepatitis B virus
(HBV),1 a causative agent of
hepatitis and hepatocellular carcinoma, contains a 3.2-kb partially
double-stranded DNA genome (1). Upon infection of the virus, the viral
genome is transcribed to generate a 3.6-kb pregenomic RNA used as a
template for viral replication. The pregenomic/core promoter is
responsible for the synthesis of 3.6-kb pregenomic RNA, and therefore
the regulation of this promoter is important in the viral life cycle (1). The 3.6-kb RNA also serves as a template for the synthesis of
polymerase and nucleocapsid core protein. In addition to the 3.6-kb
RNA, three more transcripts are generated from the HBV genome. The
large surface antigen is synthesized from 2.4-kb RNA, and the major and
middle antigens are synthesized from 2.1-kb transcripts. The X-gene
product (HBx) is synthesized from the smallest 0.9-kb RNA (1). The
transcription of these RNAs are governed by the pre-S, surface, and X
promoters, respectively. The activities of these promoters are under
the control of enhancer I and II. Enhancer I is located upstream from
the X promoter (2, 3) and is transactivated by HBx. The mechanism of
transactivation is not through DNA binding but through protein to
protein interaction (4). Enhancer II is responsible for the
hepatocyte-specific nature of HBV replication (5-10). HBV viral
products are synthesized in a tissue-specific and differentiation
state-specific manner in transgenic mice and upon transfection. The
3.6-kb transcript used as a template for the replication appears only
in liver cells, indicating that liver specificity and differentiation
state specificity operate at the transcription level (5-10).
p53 is a typical DNA-binding transcription factor and works either as a
transcriptional activator or repressor (11). When working as an
activator, p53 binds directly to a specific DNA element. However, as a
repressor, p53 works through protein to protein interaction. The
mechanism of transcriptional repression by p53 was suggested to be
through direct association with the TATA-binding protein complex
(12-15) or CCAAT-binding factor (16). The abrogation of p53 function
is one of the most important steps in viral transformation. E1B of
adenovirus, large T antigen of SV40, E6 of human papilloma virus, BZLF1
and EBNA-5 of Epstein-Barr virus, and HBx of HBV are examples of viral
transactivator that directly bind to p53 to abolish the tumor
suppressor function (11). In the HBV case, HBx to p53 interaction was
suggested to be also responsible for the apoptosis observed upon
expression of HBx (17-19). In addition to a function as a tumor
suppressor, p53 defends host cell from the invading virus. p53 actively
regulates viral replication as in the case of SV40 (20, 21) and HBV (22). In the case of SV40, p53 binds to a sequence adjacent to the
replication origin of SV40 and abrogates the helicase activity of T
antigen by directly binding to it (20, 21). In the case of HBV, p53
interferes with the life cycle of HBV through down-regulation of the
pregenomic/core promoter as reported by us (22).
Extending our previous study (22), we investigated the mechanism of the
inhibitory function of p53 on the HBV life cycle. We report here a
novel mechanism of p53-dependent transcriptional repression
in which p53 inhibits hepatitis B viral gene expression by repressing
the virus-specific enhancer, not the basal promoter, and HBx rescues
viral gene expression. Our finding displays that the function of p53
extends to protection against viral infection by down-regulating the
virus-specific DNA enhancer, which is tissue-specific and
differentiation state-specific.
Plasmids--
The expression plasmids of wild type p53,
pcDNA-p53, and of two p53 mutants, R273L and G154V, have been
described previously (22). HBx expression plasmid, pcDNA-X and
reporter plasmids, CpCAT, and CEP-CAT have also been described
previously (22). SpCAT, S(1)pCAT, and XpCAT were derived from SpLuc,
S(1)pLuc, and XpLuc kindly provided by Dr. McLachlan (23). In these
constructs, a 3.2-kb HindIII fragment containing whole HBV
DNA was linked to the CAT gene such that the expression of the CAT gene
was governed by the surface, pre-S, and X gene promoters, respectively.
The parental pGEMCAT vector has been described previously (22). Serial
deletion constructs of CpCAT were generated by restriction digestion or
PCR. CEP-del1 and CEP-del2 were derived from digestion of CEP-CAT with
SphI or AvaI, respectively, and subsequent
self-ligation. CEP-del3 and CEP-del4 were generated by PCR and
subsequent ligation to the SmaI and HindIII site
of pGEMCAT. The 5' PCR primers used were CCAAATATTGCCCAAGGTCTT for
CEP-del3 and AAAGACTGTTTGTTTAAAGACT for CEP-del4. 3' primer was
GGCGAAGCTTGGCAGACCAA for both CEP-del3 and CEP-del4. The
underlined sequence represents the additional HindIII site
introduced for subcloning. All deletion series have the same 3'
sequence as depicted in Fig. 2A. pInr-CAT was kindly provided by Dr. Laimins (13). EN2-InrCAT was generated by subcloning the PCR product of enhancer II core to the SalI and
NsiI site in the multi-cloning site of pInr-CAT. The primers
used were TGCAGTCGACATTGCCCAAGGTCTTAC for 5' and
TGCATGCATCCCCAACTCCTCCTCCC for 3'. The underlined sequence represents an additional SalI or NsiI site
introduced for the convenience of subcloning. EN2-A, EN2-B, and EN2-C
were generated by subcloning the annealed oligonucleotides to the
multi-cloning site of pInr-CAT at the XbaI and
NsiI site. The sequences of the corresponding
oligonucleotides are shown in Fig. 4, except that either side of the
synthetic oligonucleotides have an XbaI and NsiI
hanger for the convenience of subcloning.
Transfection and CAT Assay--
The transfection and CAT assays
were performed as described (22). The liver cell line HepG2 cells were
used throughout this study. Where indicated, non-liver cell lines 293 and C33A were also employed.
Electrophoresis Mobility Shift Assay--
Probes were labeled
with [ Purification of p53 Expressed in the Baculovirus
System--
Human p53 baculovirus was a kind gift of Dr. Y. C. Sung. The purification was after Bargonetti et al. (20).
Preparation of HepG2 Nuclear Extract--
The preparation of
HepG2 nuclear extract was basically after Dignam et al.
(24).
p53 Represses the Activity of All Four Promoters of HBV--
In
the previous paper (22), we reported that tumor suppressor p53
negatively regulates the HBV life cycle through down-regulation of the
3.6-kb pregenomic/core RNA. In addition to the down-regulation of
3.6-kb RNA, we have also observed that the levels of other HBV
transcripts are repressed by p53, which led us to test whether other
HBV promoters are also influenced by p53. CpCAT, SpCAT, XpCAT, and
S(1)pCAT, each containing a 3.2-kb full context of the viral genome in
the configuration that the CAT genes are under the control of
pregenomic/core, surface, pre-S, or X promoters, respectively, were
employed as reporters (Fig. 1). In the
transient transfection assay in HepG2 cells, the activities of all four promoters were down-regulated by the cotransfection of pcDNA-p53. The observed p53-mediated down-regulation of HBV promoters was the
specific nature of wild type p53 insomuch as two p53 mutants, R273L and
G154V, were found to be deficient in this activity. In addition, the
coexpression of HBx resulted in the full or partial rescue of the CAT
activity depending on the promoter used. The p53-mediated inhibition of
CpCAT was fully rescued upon cotransfection of 5 µg of pcDNA-X,
whereas the activities of SpCAT, XpCAT, and S(1)pCAT were rescued
partially (Fig. 1). The HBx-mediated rescue was specific on the
p53-mediated transcriptional repression, as the expression of HBx did
not elevate but rather reduced the activity of all 4 promoters (Fig.
1). These results suggest the possibility that the effect of p53 was
mediated through a common element in the HBV genome.
Liver-specific Enhancer II of HBV Is the Target Site for p53-mediated Transcriptional Repression-- To identify the p53-responsive element in the HBV genome, we employed five 5'-deletion series of core promoter-CAT constructs shown in Fig. 2A. These deletion constructs were designed mainly to test the effects of liver-specific enhancers I and II, inasmuch as these two enhancers in combination are responsible for the liver-specific expression of HBV genes (6, 8, 9). The regulation pattern of CEP-CAT, CEP-del1, CEP-del2, and CEP-del3 in HepG2 cells was basically identical in that the CAT activity was repressed by p53 and was rescued by the coexpression of HBx. Further deletion of enhancer II in CEP-del4 resulted in the complete loss of the effects of p53 and HBx expression in HepG2 cells. These results suggest that the liver-specific enhancer II region contains the target site for p53-mediated transcriptional repression.
Fine Mapping of the p53-repressible Element in the Enhancer II Region-- For detailed mapping of the element mediating p53-dependent transcriptional repression, an 81-base pair enhancer II core sequence was divided into three domains and oligonucleotides were synthesized with a five-base pair overlap (Fig. 4A). The synthetic oligonucleotides were inserted into pInr-CAT, and ENII-A, -B, and -C were generated. In transient transfection assays in HepG2 cells, the CAT activity of ENII-A was repressed upon expression of p53 and rescued by the coexpression of HBx, whereas ENII-B and -C were insensitive to p53 (Fig. 4B). Again, the coexpression of HBx did not elevate the reporter activities, indicating that the rescue by HBx is specific to p53-mediated repression. Therefore, the 31-base pair ENII-A region, corresponding to nucleotide positions 1637-1667, was defined as a p53-repressible element. Previously, this region was reported to be protected in footprinting experiments with liver nuclear extracts (7, 9, 10, 26).
The Mechanism of p53-dependent Repression Assayed by Gel Shift-- Inasmuch as the sequence of ENII-A shows no homology to the previously reported p53-responsive element (27), we were interested in whether p53 binds directly to the element or not. As a first step, we tested whether p53 binds directly to the ENII-A sequence by electrophoresis mobility shift assay using purified p53 from the baculovirus expression system (Fig. 5A). The purified p53 readily shifted the previously characterized p53-binding sequence, RGC-W (28) (5'-TCGAGTTGCCTGGACTTGCCTGGCCTTGCCTTTTC-3'), and the band was supershifted by the addition of p53 monoclonal antibody DO-1 or pAb1801. However, no shifted band was observed with ENII-A as a probe, eliminating the possibility that p53 directly binds to this element (Fig. 5A).
Previously, we have shown that p53 negatively regulates HBV
replication through down-regulation of the pregenomic/core promoter, and that HBx is required to counteract this p53-mediated inhibition (22). In this report, we have localized the liver-specific enhancer II
region as the target for the p53-mediated transcriptional repression of
the pregenomic/core promoter. The enhancer II region is essential for
the activities of all four promoters and is regarded as liver cell- and
differentiation state-specific (5-10). For the pregenomic/core promoter, the enhancer II region stimulates basic core promoter activity more than 100-fold and works in a position- and
orientation-dependent manner, and therefore was previously
referred to as the core upstream regulatory sequence (CURS) (9). The
EN-IIA region corresponds to "box For the pre-S, surface, and X promoters, enhancer II operates in a position- and orientation-independent manner (5-10). Previously, the EN-IIA region has also been shown to be essential for the activity of enhancer II (8, 10). Even though we tested only the deletion constructs of the core promoter to map the p53-repressible element, the observed down-regulation of the other three promoter activities by p53 and the fact that the employed promoter constructs all contain the full context of the HBV genome suggests that p53 probably down-regulates the other promoters of HBV through the same ENIIA element. Previous studies of HBV promoters have shown that each promoter possesses different characteristics: Cp, initiator/TATA-like; Sp, SV40-like; Xp, initiator-like; S(1)p, TATA-like (30-34). Considering these various characteristics of HBV promoters, it is not likely that p53 acts on each basal promoter element to mediate the common effect. Recently, Takada et al. (34) reported that p53 repressed the activity of the basal X-gene promoter. However, they employed constructs containing the basal promoter only and did not test the effect through enhancer II. Taken together, by acting on the EN-IIA sequence, p53 is expected to disrupt the activity of enhancer II as well as the activity of CURS, thereby leading to the repression of all four promoters and viral replication. The ENII-A region was reported to be protected in a footprinting experiment with Rat liver nuclear extract (26) or HepG2 nuclear extract (7, 9, 10). Although CCAAT/enhancer-binding protein has been proposed as a binding factor for this region (26), it is probably not the case since only a trace amount of CCAAT/enhancer-binding protein is present in HepG2 cells and the sequence preference and heat sensitivity are different (10). According to the reports to date, p53-dependent transcriptional repression was suggested to be mediated through the protein to protein interaction with basic transcription factors such as transcription factor IID and the CAAT box-binding factor (12-16). However, the sequence of enhancer II-A, a p53-repressible element, has no homology to the "TATA" or "CAAT" box sequence. Furthermore, the anti-TBP antibody did not cause any alteration of the gel shifted bands formed on ENII-A, eliminating the possibility that p53 down-regulated enhancer II activity through interaction with these basal transcription factors. In addition, Ori et al. (35) recently reported the p53-mediated repression of HBV enhancer I through the mechanism different from our finding. In their study, p53 bound to a defined region in the enhancer I in a sequence-specific manner and, with the help of an adjacent enhancer element, acted as a transrepressor. As far as we know, the finding in this report provides the previously unidentified mechanism in that p53 represses the activity of a enhancer-binding factor through protein to protein interaction, not the activity of a general transcription factor like transcription factor IID or CCAAT-binding factor. Throughout the study, HBx antagonized the p53-mediated inhibition of transcriptional repression. In particular, the rescue of ENII-A activity reveals that HBx rescues viral gene expression and replication by acting on this element. Since HBx is not a DNA-binding protein, HBx may work by forming a complex with p53 (36-39) to antagonize the negative effect of p53. Alternatively, HBx may regulate certain signal transduction pathways (40-42), leading to the posttranslational modifications of p53. Regardless of the mechanism, these results suggest that p53 acts as a defense mechanism against HBV propagation, and that HBx is required to counteract this inhibitory function of p53 for the survival of HBV. Dysregulation of p53 function by viral oncoproteins is indispensable in tumorigenesis (43), and one of the proposed mechanisms of HBV-induced tumorigenesis is the disruption of p53 function by HBx (39). From the viral point of view, transformation can be thought of as a by-product of this antagonistic relationship between HBx and p53.
We are indebted to the other members of the laboratory for various materials, especially Y. H. Lee, E. M. Hong, and C. K. Kim. We thank Dr. McLachlan for the HBV promoters, Dr. Laimins for pInr-CAT, and Dr. Y. C. Sung for p53 baculovirus.
* This work was supported in part by the Korea Green Cross Company and the Korean Ministry of Science and Technology.The costs of publication of this article were defrayed in part by the payment of page charges. The article must therefore be hereby marked "advertisement" in accordance with 18 U.S.C. Section 1734 solely to indicate this fact.
1 The abbreviations used are: HBV, hepatitis B virus; kb, kilobase(s); CAT, chloramphenicol acetyltransferase; HBx, X-gene product; PCR, polymerase chain reaction; ENII, enhancer II; CURS, core upstream regulatory sequence; TBP, TATA box-binding protein.
Copyright © 1998 by The American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Inc. This article has been cited by other articles:
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