ABSTRACT Retinoic acid (RA) is a positive regulator of P19 EC cell differentiation. Pre-B cell leukemia transcription factors (PBXs) act in conjunction with homeobox genes during cell differentiation. PBX mRNA and protein levels are increased rapidly in P19 cells during RA-induced differentiation. However, silencing of PBX expression in P19 cells (AS cells) results in a failure of these cells to differentiate upon RA treatment. Chicken Ovalbumin Upstream Promoter Transcription Factor I (COUP-TFI) and Chicken Ovalbumin Upstream Promoter Transcription Factor II (COUP-TFII) are orphan members of the steroid-thyroid hormone superfamily. The mRNA and protein levels of both COUP-TFI and COUP-TFII are low in proliferating wild type P19 EC cells. However, when wild type P19 cells are induced to differentiate upon RA treatment, COUP-TFI and COUP-TFII mRNA and protein levels are dramatically increased while the levels of pluripotency associated gene products are strikingly reduced. Conversely, COUP-TFI and COUP-TFII mRNA levels fail to be elevated upon RA treatment in PBX AS P19 EC cells. Therefore it was hypothesized that COUP-TFs may be downstream targets of PBX and required factors mediating the RA-dependent differentiation cascade in P19 cells. To determine the role of COUP-TFI during differentiation of P19 cells, PBX AS cells that inducibly express V5 tagged COUP-TFI using the Tet-Off® Advanced Inducible Gene Expression system were prepared. Using this system, we demonstrate that exogenous COUP-TFI expression, in a dose-dependent fashion, leads to growth inhibition, modest cell cycle disruption and early apoptosis. Furthermore, using this cell model which inherently is incapable of undergoing RA-mediated differentiation due to blockage of PBX induction, we demonstrate that a supraphysiological level of COUP-TFI expression can overcome the blockage of RA-dependent differentiation in PBX AS cells. However, AS cells expressing a physiological level of COUP-TFI differentiate to endodermal cells only upon treatment with RA. Additionally, gene expression studies indicate that the reductions of pluripotency maintenance genes observed in the COUP-TFI expressing cells are similar to that of wild type P19 cells (upon RA treatment) suggesting that COUP-TFI expression is a driving force towards loss of pluripotency. Moreover, gene expression studies indicate COUP-TFI is involved in the regulatory modulation of at least two RA response genes, CYP26A1 and HoxA1, indicating that COUP-TFI may have some effect on either maintaining or reducing these genes expression levels when COUP-TFI becomes expressed. COUP-TFII is expressed as two distinct variants, Variant 1(V1) and Variant 2 (V2). V1 is the variant that functions as a classical nuclear receptor by binding target DNA sequences and affecting gene transcription whereas V2 is a truncated form of V1 lacking the ability to bind DNA. We therefore hypothesized that V2 could serve as a dominant negative receptor by limiting the amount of functional V1 in the cell. Unexpectedly, we found using P19 cells that overexpress V2 that RA-mediated differentiation proceeded normally suggesting V2 does not function as a dominant negative repressor. Taken together, these studies demonstrate for the first time (i) that COUP-TFI functions as a physiologically relevant regulator during RA-mediated endodermal differentiation of P19 cells and (ii) COUP-TFII V2 is endogenously expressed in P19 cells; however its role during RA-mediated differentiation remains unclear. / Biochemistry
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:TEMPLE/oai:scholarshare.temple.edu:20.500.12613/2156 |
| Date | January 2012 |
| Creators | Pickens, Brandy S |
| Contributors | Soprano, Dianne R., Soprano, Kenneth J., Walsh, Peter N., Stitt, Barbara L., Masker, Warren, Chong, Parkson Lee-Gau, Gamero, Ana |
| Publisher | Temple University. Libraries |
| Source Sets | Temple University |
| Language | English |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | Thesis/Dissertation, Text |
| Format | 209 pages |
| Rights | IN COPYRIGHT- This Rights Statement can be used for an Item that is in copyright. Using this statement implies that the organization making this Item available has determined that the Item is in copyright and either is the rights-holder, has obtained permission from the rights-holder(s) to make their Work(s) available, or makes the Item available under an exception or limitation to copyright (including Fair Use) that entitles it to make the Item available., http://rightsstatements.org/vocab/InC/1.0/ |
| Relation | http://dx.doi.org/10.34944/dspace/2138, Theses and Dissertations |
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