Dendritic cells (DC) play a key role in immunity by recognizing and presenting antigens. Cytokines and cytokine-activated transcription factors are fundamental in the regulation of the DC differentiation and their functions. While the role of STAT3 in DC development is well established, the function of STAT5 in DC has yet to be fully elucidated. A recent study published in Nature Immunology by ...

Several lines of evidence indicate that transcriptional activation is coupled with DNA replication initiation, but the nature of initiation of DNA replication in mammalian cells is unclear. Polyoma virus replicon is an excellent system to analyze the initiation of DNA replication in murine cells because its replication requires an enhancer, and all components of replication machinery, except fo...

Signal transducers and activators of transcription (STATs) are latent cytoplasmic transcription factors linking extracellular signals to target gene transcription. Hematopoietic cells express two highly conserved STAT5-isoforms (STAT5A/STAT5B), and STAT5 is directly activated by JAK2 downstream of several cytokine receptors and the oncogenic BCR-ABL tyrosine kinase. Using an IL-3-dependent cell...

The IL-2R promotes rapid expansion of activated T cells through signals mediated by the adaptor protein Shc and the transcription factor Stat5. The mechanisms that engage the cell cycle are not well defined. We report on the transcriptional regulation of the cell cycle gene cyclin D2 by the IL-2R. IL-2-responsive induction of a luciferase reporter gene containing 1624 bp of the cyclin D2 promot...

Tetrandrine, a bisbenzylisoquinoline alkaloid constituent of the root of Stephania tetrandra S. Moore, was previously shown to suppress the differentiation of T helper 17 (Th17) cells and consequently ameliorate the collagen-induced arthritis (CIA) in mice by activating the aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR), but its underlying mechanism is incompletely understood. Here, we investigated how tetran...

STAT5 is a member of a family of transcription factors that participate in the signal transduction pathways of many hormones and cytokines. Although STAT5 is suggested to play a crucial role in the biological effects of cytokines, its downstream target(s) associated with cell growth control is largely unknown. In a human interleukin-3 (IL-3)-dependent cell line F-36P-mpl, the induced expression...

Stat5 was initially identified as a prolactin-induced member of the signal transducer and activator of transcription (Stat) family in sheep. However, Stat5 is also activated in the response to a variety of cytokines. In mice, and possibly in other species, there exist two Stat5 genes (Stat5a and Stat5b) that encode proteins of 92 and 94 kDa that are 95% identical. In the studies described here,...

STAT5A and STAT5B proteins belong to the family of signal transducers and activators of transcription. They are encoded by two separate genes with 91% identity in their amino acid sequences. Despite their high degree of conservation, STAT5A and STAT5B exert non-redundant functions, resulting at least in part from differences in target gene activation. To better characterize the differential con...

Background Stat transcription factors are highly conserved key regulators of cellular processes such as proliferation, differentiation, growth and apoptosis. Stats have been frequently found to be deregulated in cancer. One example is the constitutive activation of Stat5 in chronic myelogenous leukaemia (CML). The disease is caused by a chromosomal translocation resulting in the expression of t...

Adaptation under fasting conditions is critical for survival in animals. Sirtuin 1 (SIRT1), a protein deacetylase, plays an essential role in adaptive metabolic and endocrine responses under fasting conditions by modifying the acetylation status of various proteins. Fasting induces growth hormone (GH) resistance in the liver, leading to decreased serum insulin-like growth factor-I (IGF-I) level...