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At least 19 recordsLinked to original sources
PubMed1996

Electroconvulsive seizure increases the expression of CREM (cyclic AMP response element modulator) and ICER (inducible cyclic AMP early repressor) in rat brain.

Rapid expression of ICER (inducible cyclic AMP early repressor), an inducible member of the CREM (cyclic AMP response element modulator) family of transcription factors, has been reported in neuroendocrine tissues and cell lines, but not in brain. In the present study, we demonstrate that acute electro-convulsive seizure (ECS) increases the expression of ICER in several rat brain regions. RNase protection analysis demonstrated that 1-2 h after administration of ECS, levels of mRNA for ICER and a splice variant, ICER gamma, were significantly increased in hippocampus, frontal cortex, and cerebellum. It is surprising that ECS also increased levels of mRNA for several CREM isoforms that previous studies have reported were not rapidly inducible. In situ hybridization analysis confirmed these findings and demonstrated that ECS induction of ICER was most obvious in the dentate gyrus granule cell layer of hippocampus and deep layers of cerebral cortex. Induction of ICER and CREM was accompanied by increased expression of two small CRE-binding complexes. Gel supershift analysis with CREM/ICER antisera confirmed that the inducible CRE-binding complexes contain CREM/ICER. Induction of CREM and ICER may contribute to negative feedback regulation of gene transcription that is increased by acute seizure and activation of CREB (cyclic AMP response element-binding protein.

Animals↗
PubMed1999

The cyclic AMP response element modulator family regulates the insulin gene transcription by interacting with transcription factor IID.

We analyzed a mechanism of transcriptional regulation of the human insulin gene by cyclic AMP response element modulator (CREM) through four cyclic AMP response elements (CREs). We isolated two novel CREM isoforms (CREMDeltaQ1 and CREMDeltaQ2), which lack one of the glutamine-rich domains, Q1 and Q2 respectively, and six known isoforms (CREMtaualpha, CREMalpha, inducible cyclic AMP early repressor (ICER) I, ICER Igamma, CREM-17X, and CREM-17) from rat pancreatic islets and the RINm5F pancreatic beta-cell line. CREM isoforms functioned as efficient transcriptional activators or repressors to modulate insulin promoter activity by binding to all of the insulin CREs. The binding activity of repressors is higher than that of activators and suppressed not only basal activity but also activator-induced activities. Furthermore, CREM activator interacted directly with the transcription factor IID components hTAF(II)130 and TATA box-binding protein (TBP). These results suggest that the activation of the insulin gene transcription by CREM activator is mediated by not only direct binding to the CREs but also by recruiting transcription factor IID to the insulin promoter via its interaction with hTAF(II)130 and TBP. On the other hand, the CREM repressor ICER competitively interrupts the binding of the activators to CREs and does not interact with either TBP or hTAF(II)130; therefore, it might fail to stabilize the basal transcriptional machinery and repress transactivation.

Animals↗
PubMed1994

Novel isoforms of human cyclic AMP-responsive element modulator (hCREM) mRNA.

The cyclic AMP-response element (CRE), a transcriptional enhancer, is regulated by CREB (CRE-binding protein) which is the leucine zipper protein phosphorylated by protein kinase A in response to cAMP signal. The highly homologous protein CREM (CRE-modulator) is thought to modulate CREB-stimulated transcription, and is also involved in transcriptional control during spermatogenesis. In this paper, we report two types of cDNAs of human CREM (hCREM), type 1 and type 2; type 1 is a group of human counterparts of the mouse CREM alpha and type 2 is a novel form having a distinct 5' exon which is unrelated to any species of the CREB and CREM isoforms so far described. This unique 5' region of type 2 hCREM may suggest its independent expression from type 1 CREM. The specific 5' region of type 2 hCREM consisted of 88 bp, containing an initiation codon for translation, but no possible phosphorylation site, suggesting different roles from type 1 CREM. Both type 1 and 2 hCREMs are expressed in lymphoid and non-lymphoid cell lines. Their excess expression by transfection induced suppression of cAMP-mediated activation of transcription, suggesting their negative regulation of CRE-mediated transcription.

Activating Transcription Factor 2↗
PubMed1995

Activating transcription factor 1 and cyclic AMP response element modulator can modulate the activity of the immunoglobulin kappa 3' enhancer.

Previously we determined that the immunoglobulin kappa 3' enhancer (kappa E3') contains at least two functional DNA sequences (PU.1/NF-EM5 and E2A) within its 132-base pair active core. We have determined that the activities of these two sequences are insufficient to account for the entire activity of the 132-base pair core. Using site-directed linker scan mutagenesis across the core fragment we identified several additional functional sequences. We used one of these functional sequences to screen a lambda gt11 cDNA expression library resulting in the isolation of cDNA clones encoding the transcription factors ATF-1 (activating transcription factor) and CREM (cyclic AMP response element modulator). Because ATF-1 and CREM are known to bind to cAMP response elements (CRE), this functional sequence was named the kappa E3'-CRE. We show that dibutyryl cAMP can increase kappa E3' enhancer activity, and in transient expression assays ATF-1 caused a 4-5-fold increase in the activity of the core enhancer while CREM-alpha expression resulted in repression of enhancer activity. RNA analyses showed increased levels of ATF-1 mRNA during B cell development and some changes in CREM transcript processing. By joining various fragments of the kappa E3' enhancer to the kappa E3'-CRE, we observed that the kappa E3'-CRE can synergistically increase transcription in association with the PU.1/NF-EM5 binding sites, suggesting a functional interaction between the proteins that bind to these DNA sequences. Consistent with this possibility, we found that ATF-1 and CREM can physically interact with PU.1. The isolation of activator and repressor proteins that bind to the kappa E3'-CRE may relate to previous conflicting results concerning the role of the cAMP signal transduction pathway in kappa gene transcription.

Activating Transcription Factor 1↗
PubMed1999

The inducible cyclic adenosine monophosphate early repressor (ICER) in the pituitary intermediate lobe: role in the stress response.

The cAMP signalling pathway plays a key role in the regulation of the hypothalamic-pituitary-adrenal axis. Transcription factor CREM (cAMP response element modulator) is implicated in the modulation of a number of neuroendocrine functions. By virtue of an alternative, intronic promoter CREM generates the powerful transcriptional repressor ICER (inducible cAMP early repressor), which displays a pronounced neuroendocrine-specific expression. Here we document a remarkable induction of ICER in response to acute stress in the intermediate lobe (IL) of the pituitary gland. The induction is transient and is preceded by CREB phosphorylation. Adrenergic stimulation directs ICER induction in the IL through the activation of both beta2-adrenergic and corticotrophin-releasing hormone receptors. These receptors are positively coupled to the adenylate cyclase signalling pathway, which regulates hormone release from the IL, implicating ICER in the modulation of peptide secretion. We show that targeted ablation of the CREM gene in the mouse causes a chronic increase of beta-endorphin levels. Altered hormonal production occurs both in basal conditions and after stress. Thus, early ICER induction in the IL may be involved in the modulation of gene expression in response to stress.

Animals↗
PubMed2000

Transcriptional regulation by cyclic AMP-responsive factors.

In eukaryotes, transcriptional regulation on stimulation of the adenylate cyclase signaling pathway is mediated by a family of cyclic AMP-responsive nuclear factors, including CREB, CREM, and ATF-1. These factors contain the basic domain/leucine zipper motifs and bind as dimers to cAMP-responsive elements (CREs). The activation function of CRE-binding proteins is modulated by phosphorylation by several kinases and is mediated by coactivators such as CBP and p300. Activation might also be independent of CBP and phosphorylation in some specific cell types, such as male germ cells, wherein the protein ACT confers a powerful activation function to CREM. The inducible cAMP early repressor (ICER) protein is the only inducible member of this family. The induction of this powerful repressor is likely to be important for the transient nature of cAMP-induced gene expression. CRE-binding proteins have been found to play an important role in the physiology of the pituitary gland, in regulating spermatogenesis, in the response to circadian rhythms, and in the molecular basis of memory.

Activating Transcription Factor 1↗
PubMed1998

Inducible cAMP early repressor ICER down-regulation of CREB gene expression in Sertoli cells.

The cAMP response element binding protein (CREB) and the cAMP-responsive element modulator (CREM) are cyclically expressed in the seminiferous tubules during spermatogenesis. In the somatic Sertoli cells, which are the major supporters of germ cell development in the seminiferous tubules, the expression of CREB is cyclical and appears to be regulated by the levels of cAMP produced in response to the pituitary derived follicle-stimulating hormone FSH. Cyclic AMP response elements (CREs) located in the promoter of the CREB gene were shown earlier to be implicated in an autopositive feedback loop that up-regulates the expression of CREB. Here we show that in Sertoli cells FSH-mediated induction of the CREM repressor isoform, ICER (inducible cAMP early repressor) is correlated with the inhibition and delay of CREB gene expression in the seminiferous tubules. ICER binds to the two CREs located in the promoter of the CREB gene and in transient transfection assays of Sertoli cells, ICER expression vectors down-regulate transcription of a reporter gene driven by the CREB gene promoter. In addition, analyses of ICER and CREB gene expression in isolated segments of rat seminiferous tubules reveals stage-specific and cycle-dependent expression of ICER. The periods of enhanced expression of ICER correspond to the stages of spermatogenesis with the lowest levels of CREB expression. We suggest that the expression of ICER in Sertoli cells may contribute to the periodic repression of CREB gene expression during the repeated 12-day cycles of spermatogenesis, and may be required to reset the levels of activator CREB prior to the initiation of each new cycle of spermatogenesis.

Animals↗
PubMed1997

The transcriptional repressor ICER and cAMP-induced programmed cell death.

The cAMP pathway plays a central role in the response to hormonal signals for cell proliferation, differentiation and apoptosis. In IPC-81 leukaemia cells, activation of the cAMP pathway by prostaglandin E1 treatment, or other cAMP-elevating agents, induces apoptosis within 4-6 h. Inhibition of mRNA or protein synthesis during the first 2 h of cAMP induction protects cells from apoptosis, suggesting a requirement for early gene expression. cAMP-dependent protein kinase phosphorylates a class of nuclear factors and thereby regulates the transcription of a specific set of genes. Here we show that CREM (cAMP Responsive Element Modulator) expression is induced rapidly upon prostaglandin E1 treatment of IPC-81 cells. The induced transcripts correspond to the early product ICER (Inducible cAMP Early Repressor). ICER expression remains elevated until the burst of cell death. Protein synthesis inhibitors which prevent cAMP-induced apoptosis also block de novo ICER synthesis. Transfected IPC-81 cell lines, constitutively expressing high level of ICER are resistant to cAMP-induced cell death. In these transfected cells, cAMP fails to upregulate the ICER transcripts demonstrating that ICER exerts strongly its repressor function on CRE-containing genes. That an early expression of ICER blocks apoptosis, suggests that gene repression by endogenous ICER in IPC-81 is insufficient or occurs too late to protect cells against death. ICER transfected cells rescued from cAMP-induced apoptosis are growth arrested. It shows for the first time that CREM activation directly participates to the decision of the cell to die. ICER, by sequentially repressing distinct sets of CRE-containing genes could modulate cell fate.

Alprostadil↗
PubMed2000

Cooperative mechanism of transcriptional activation by a cyclic AMP-response element modulator alpha mutant containing a motif for constitutive binding to CREB-binding protein.

Cyclic AMP-response element modulator alpha (CREMalpha) is a transcription factor that is highly related to cAMP-response element-binding protein (CREB) but represses cAMP-induced gene expression from simple artificial promoters containing a cAMP-response element (CRE). CREMalpha lacks two glutamine-rich Q regions that, in CREB, are thought to be necessary for transcriptional activation. Nevertheless, protein kinase A stimulation induces CREMalpha to activate the complex native promoter in the phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase (PEPCK) gene. To study this phenomenon in the absence of protein kinase A stimulation, we introduced a mutation into CREMalpha to allow constitutive binding to the coactivator CREB-binding protein. This mutant, CREMalpha(DIEDML), constitutively activated the PEPCK promoter. By engineering the leucine zipper regions of CREMalpha(DIEDML) and CREB(DIEDML) to direct their patterns of dimerization, we found that only CREMalpha(DIEDML) homodimers fully activated the PEPCK promoter. By using a series of deletion and block mutants of the PEPCK promoter, we found that activation by CREMalpha(DIEDML) depended on the CRE and two CCAAT/enhancer-binding protein (C/EBP) sites. A dominant negative inhibitor of C/EBP, A-C/EBP, suppressed activation by CREMalpha(DIEDML). Furthermore, a GAL4-C/EBPalpha fusion protein and CREMalpha(DIEDML) cooperatively activated a promoter containing three GAL4 sites and the PEPCK CRE. Thus, we propose that the C/EBP sites in the PEPCK promoter allow CREMalpha to activate transcription despite its lack of Q regions.

Amino Acid Motifs↗
PubMed1995

Transcription factors responsive to cAMP.

In eukaryotes, transcriptional regulation upon stimulation of the adenylate cyclase signaling pathway is mediated by a family of cAMP-responsive nuclear factors. This family consists of a large number of members that may act as activators or repressors. These factors contain the basic domain/leucine zipper motifs and bind as dimers to cAMP-response elements (CRE). The function of CRE-binding proteins is modulated by phosphorylation by several kinases. The ICER (inducible cAMP early repressor) protein is the only inducible member of this family. The induction of this powerful repressor is likely to be important for the transient nature of cAMP-induced gene expression. CRE-binding proteins have been found to play an important role in the physiology of the pituitary gland, in regulating spermatogenesis, in the response to circadian rhythms, and in the molecular basis of memory.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1996

Nucleosome assembly on the human c-fos promoter interferes with transcription factor binding.

cAMP-responsive-element (CRE)-binding factors interaction with nucleosomal DNA has been investigated in vitro on the human c-fos promoter. Analysis of nucleosome reconstitution of this promoter shows a preferential nucleosome positioning on the proximal promoter sequences, including the CRE centered at -60 relative to the start site of transcription. CRE-binding protein (CREB) and modulator protein (CREM) are unable to interact with their recognition site incorporated in a nucleosome. However, competition between transcription factor binding and nucleosome assembly allows CREM binding and induces important modifications in the nucleosomal structure suggesting the displacement of nucleosomes. These findings imply that binding of transcription factors to the CRE prior to cAMP induction might be required to prevent the incorporation of this element in a nucleosome.

Base Sequence↗
PubMed1994

DNA bending by transcription factors CREM and CREB.

DNA bending is postulated to be a major determinant of gene expression and has been shown to be specifically induced by some regulatory proteins with DNA-binding properties. Here we show that nuclear factors which naturally bind to CREs (cAMP-responsive elements) are able to induce bending in the sequences flanking this recognition site. In our assays we used a permutated binding site/gel retardation assay and bacterially generated nuclear factors. We have been studying the cAMP-responsive-element modulator (CREM) gene, which encodes both repressors (CREM alpha, beta and gamma) and an activator (CREM tau) of cAMP-responsive transcription by alternative splicing. In addition, two alternative DNA-binding domains can be encoded in different CREM isoforms. No differences in induction of DNA bending by the CREM proteins with the two DNA binding domains were detected. The activator CREB induced DNA bending in a fashion similar to CREM. Importantly, we show that phosphorylation of CREM or CREB alters their mobilities in a regular gel shift assay as well as enhances the angle of DNA bending induced by these proteins.

Base Sequence↗
PubMed1992

Transcriptional cross-talk: nuclear factors CREM and CREB bind to AP-1 sites and inhibit activation by Jun.

The proteins Fos and Jun dimerize to constitute the transcription factor AP-1 which is known to respond to treatment with phorbol esters. AP-1 binds to 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate-responsive elements (TREs) palindromic sequences. cAMP-responsive elements (CREs) are very similar to TREs and CRE-binding proteins are similar in structure to Fos and Jun. Thus, the two main signal transduction pathways have closely related nuclear effectors which could possibly overlap and/or cross-talk. The gene CRE modulator (CREM) encodes both antagonists and an activator of the cAMP transcriptional response by alternative splicing. In this report we show that CREM antagonists are able to block the transcriptional activation elicited by c-Jun. The mechanism by which this repression is obtained does not require heterodimerization between CREM and the Fos and/or Jun proteins. In contrast, we show that both CREM and CRE-binding proteins (CREB) are able to bind TREs and therefore compete with c-Jun for this site. Removal of the phosphorylation domain in CREM does not affect the down-regulatory function. We also show that c-Fos does not affect the inhibitory function of CREM on c-Jun and that the transcriptional activation elicited by the other members of the jun family (JunB, JunD, and v-Jun) is also down-regulated by CREM.

Base Sequence↗
PubMed1993

Phosphorylation and negative regulation of the transcriptional activator CREM by p34cdc2.

Transcription factors that bind to cAMP-responsive elements (CREs) regulate the expression of target genes in response to activation of the adenylyl cyclase pathway. It is generally thought that activation is obtained through direct phosphorylation by the cAMP-dependent protein kinase-A. We have isolated the gene CRE modulator (CREM), which encodes multiple members of the CRE-binding protein family, by cell-specific alternative splicing. Various isoforms have been characterized, encoding both repressors (CREM alpha, -beta, and -gamma) as well as activators (CREM tau). Here we show that the function of the activator CREM tau is regulated by the p34cdc2 kinase. Multiple serine and threonine residues are phosphorylated in vivo as well as in vitro by p34cdc2. Although there is no effect of p34cdc2-mediated phosphorylation on CREM tau DNA binding, we observed a dramatic effect on the trans-regulatory function. Coexpression of a constitutively active p34cdc2 mutant shows that the trans-activation potential of CREM tau is strongly reduced by p34cdc2. This represents the first example of negative regulation of a transcription factor of this class by p34cdc2.

Amino Acid Sequence↗
PubMed1995

Modulation of Tax and PKA-mediated expression of HTLV-I promoter via cAMP response element binding and modulator proteins CREB and CREM.

Nuclear proteins of the human peripheral blood T lymphocytes that bind to the CREs located within three 21-bp repeat enhancers of the HTLV-I promoter belong to the CREB/CREM family of bZIP transcription factors. It has been shown previously that Tax enhances transactivation of these CREs by direct interactions with the bZIP domain of the transcription factors to stabilize DNA-binding. We show that CREB and CREM bind all three CRE sequences of the HTLV-I promoter which are important determinants in Tax-elicited transactivation as well as PKA-mediated activation of the HTLV-I promoter. Tax and PKA activate transcription from a HTLV-I-LTR CAT reporter plasmid transfected to NIH 3T3 cells, and CREM attenuates the activation. In the context of a GAL4 CREB fusion protein in which the DNA-binding bZIP domain of CREB is replaced by GAL4 binding domain, a single amino acid substitution of serine-133, phosphorylated by PKA and critical for the transactivation function of CREB, attenuates both Tax and PKA-mediated transcriptional responses. These observations suggest that Tax enhances CREB-mediated transactivation of the HTLV-I promoter by a mechanism apart from, and/or in addition to, the reported stabilization of DNA-binding by interaction with the bZIP domain of CREB.

3T3 Cells↗
PubMed1994

Targeted mutation of the CREB gene: compensation within the CREB/ATF family of transcription factors.

The cAMP response element binding protein (CREB) has been implicated as a key regulator in the transcriptional control of many genes. To assess the functional importance of CREB in vivo and its role in development, we used gene targeting to generate mice with a disruption of the CREB gene. Homozygous mutant mice appeared healthy and exhibited no impairment of growth or development. In this report we demonstrate that CREB and two other members of the CREB/ATF family, cAMP response element modulation protein (CREM) and activating transcription factor 1 (ATF1), appear to form a unique subgroup within this extensive class of transcription factors. Examination of CREM mRNA and protein levels in CREB mutant mice demonstrated overexpression of CREM in all tissues examined, but no change in ATF1 levels. These data demonstrate that CREB is not the sole mediator of cAMP-dependent transcriptional regulation and probably acts in concert with a specific subset of cAMP response element-binding proteins to transduce the cAMP signal and, in its absence, these same proteins can compensate for CREB function in vivo.

Activating Transcription Factor 1↗