C/EBPβ and GATA-1 synergistically regulate activity of the eosinophil granule major basic protein promoter: Implication for C/EBPβ activity in eosinophil gene expression

Eosinophil granule major basic protein (MBP) is expressed exclusively in eosinophils and basophils in hematopoietic cells. In our previous study, we demonstrated a major positive regulatory role for GATA-1 and a negative regulatory role for GATA-2 in MBP gene transcription. Further analysis of the MBP promoter region identified a C/EBP (CCAAT/enhancer-binding protein) consensus binding site 6 bp upstream of the functional GATA-binding site in the MBP gene. In the cell line HT93A, which is capable of differentiating towards both the eosinophil and neutrophil lineages in response to retinoic acid (RA), C/EBPα mRNA expression decreased significantly concomitant with eosinophilic and neutrophilic differentiation, whereas C/EBPβ expression was markedly increased. Electrophoretic mobility shift assays (EMSAs) showed that recombinant C/EBPβ protein could bind to the potential C/EBP-binding site (bp -90 to -82) in the MBP promoter. Furthermore, we have demonstrated that both C/EBPβ and GATA-1 can bind simultaneously to the C/EBP- and GATA- binding sites in the MBP promoter. To determine the functionality of both the C/EBP- and GATA-binding sites, we analyzed whether C/EBPβ and GATA-1 can stimulate the MBP promoter in the C/EBPβ and GATA-1 negative Jurkat T-cell line. Cotransfection with C/EBPβ and GATA-1 expression vectors produced a 5- fold increase compared with cotransfection with the C/EBPβ or GATA-1 expression vectors individually. In addition, GST pull-down experiments demonstrated a physical interaction between human GATA-1 and C/EBPβ. Expression of FOG (Friend of GATA), which binds to GATA-1 and acts as a cofactor for GATA-binding proteins, decreased transactivation activity of GATA-1 for the MBP promoter in a dose-dependent manner. Our results provide the first evidence that both GATA-1 and C/EBPβ synergistically transactivate the promoter of an eosinophil-specific granule protein gene and that FOG may act as a negative cofactor for the eosinophil lineage, unlike its positively regulatory function for the erythroid and megakaryocyte lineages.