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Molecular and Cellular Biology, March 2000, p. 2239-2247, Vol. 20, No. 6
Center for Blood Research and Harvard Medical
School, Boston, Massachusetts 021152;
Department of Molecular and Cellular Biology, Harvard
University, Cambridge, Massachusetts 021381;
Department of Biochemistry and Biophysics, Columbia University,
New York, New York 100683
Received 26 October 1999/Returned for modification 29 November
1999/Accepted 6 December 1999
The human tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-
0270-7306/00/$04.00+0
Copyright © 2000, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
Stimulus-Specific Assembly of Enhancer Complexes on
the Tumor Necrosis Factor Alpha Gene Promoter

) gene is rapidly
activated in response to multiple signals of stress and inflammation. We have identified transcription factors present in the TNF-
enhancer complex in vivo following ionophore stimulation (ATF-2/Jun and
NFAT) and virus infection (ATF-2/Jun, NFAT, and Sp1), demonstrating a
novel role for NFAT and Sp1 in virus induction of gene expression. We
show that virus infection results in calcium flux and
calcineurin-dependent NFAT dephosphorylation; however, relatively lower
levels of NFAT are present in the nucleus following virus infection as
compared to ionophore stimulation. Strikingly, Sp1 functionally
synergizes with NFAT and ATF-2/c-jun in the activation of TNF-
gene
transcription and selectively associates with the TNF-
promoter upon
virus infection but not upon ionophore stimulation in vivo. We conclude that the specificity of TNF-
transcriptional activation is achieved through the assembly of stimulus-specific enhancer complexes and through synergistic interactions among the distinct activators within
these enhancer complexes.
*
Corresponding author. Mailing address: Center for Blood
Research, 800 Huntington Ave., Boston, MA 02115. Phone: (617) 278-3351. Fax: (617) 278-3454. E-mail:
goldfeld{at}cbr.med.harvard.edu.
Dedicated to the memory of Mauricio X. Zuber and Ernest G. Peralta.
Deceased 17 May 1999.
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