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Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America logoLink to Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
. 1991 May 15;88(10):4304–4308. doi: 10.1073/pnas.88.10.4304

Transcription of a subset of human class II major histocompatibility complex genes is regulated by a nucleoprotein complex that contains c-fos or an antigenically related protein.

S J Ono 1, V Bazil 1, B Z Levi 1, K Ozato 1, J L Strominger 1
PMCID: PMC51647  PMID: 1709740

Abstract

Transcriptional regulation of the human major histocompatibility complex class II genes requires at least two upstream elements, the X and Y boxes, located in the -50- to -150-base-pair region of all class II promoters. The DRA and DPB promoters contain phorbol ester-responsive elements overlapping the 3' side of their X boxes. Mutation of this sequence down-regulates the efficiency of the DRA promoter, suggesting that a positive regulator(s) binds to this site. In this report, anti-sense c-fos RNA and an anti-c-fos antibody were used to show that the product of the protooncogene c-fos or an antigenically related protein is a component of a complex that binds to the X box and is required for maximal transcription from the DRA and DPB promoters. As c-fos (or its related proteins) cannot bind alone to DNA, these results suggest that it may dimerize with other members of the JUN/AP-1 family, such as hXBP1, to participate in the activation of a subset of class II major histocompatibility complex genes.

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Selected References

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