The widely used immunosuppressant cyclosporine A (CSA) blocks nuclear translocation of the transcription factor, NF-AT (nuclear factor of activated T cells), preventing its activity. mRNA for several NF-AT isoforms has been shown to exist in cells outside of the immune system, suggesting a possible mechanism for side effects associated with CSA treatment. In this study, we demonstrate that CSA inhibits biochemical and morphological differentiation of skeletal muscle cells while having a minimal effect on proliferation. Furthermore, in vivo treatment with CSA inhibits muscle regeneration after induced trauma in mice. These results suggest a role for NF-AT-mediated transcription outside of the immune system. In subsequent experiments, we examined the activation and cellular localization of NF-AT in skeletal muscle cells in vitro. Known pharmacological inducers of NF-AT in lymphoid cells also stimulate transcription from an NF-AT-responsive reporter gene in muscle cells. Three isoforms of NF-AT (NF-ATp, c, and 4/x/c3) are present in the cytoplasm of muscle cells at all stages of myogenesis tested. However, each isoform undergoes calcium-induced nuclear translocation from the cytoplasm at specific stages of muscle differentiation, suggesting specificity among NF-AT isoforms in gene regulation. Strikingly, one isoform (NF-ATc) can preferentially translocate to a subset of nuclei within a single multinucleated myotube. These results demonstrate that skeletal muscle cells express functionally active NF-AT proteins and that the nuclear translocation of individual NF-AT isoforms, which is essential for the ability to coordinate gene expression, is influenced markedly by the differentiation state of the muscle cell.

FCP1 [transcription factor IIF (TFIIF)-associated carboxyl-terminal domain (CTD) phosphatase] is the only identified phosphatase specific for the phosphorylated CTD of RNA polymerase II (RNAP II).The phosphatase activity of FCP1 is enhanced in the presence of the large subunit of TFIIF (RAP74 in humans). It has been demonstrated that the CTD of RAP74 (cterRAP74; residues 436 -517) directly interacts with the highly acidic CTD of FCP1 (cterFCP; residues 879 -961 in human). In this manuscript, we have determined a high-resolution solution structure of a cterRAP74͞cterFCP complex by NMR spectroscopy. Interestingly, the cterFCP protein is completely disordered in the unbound state, but forms an ␣-helix (H1 ; E945-M961) in the complex. The cterRAP74͞cterFCP binding interface relies extensively on van der Waals contacts between hydrophobic residues from the H2 and H3 helices of cterRAP74 and hydrophobic residues from the H1 helix of cterFCP. The binding interface also contains two critical electrostatic interactions involving aspartic acid residues from H1 of cterFCP and lysine residues from both H2 and H3 of cterRAP74. There are also three additional polar interactions involving highly conserved acidic residues from the H1 helix. The cterRAP74͞cterFCP complex is the first highresolution structure between an acidic residue-rich domain from a holoenzyme-associated regulatory protein and a general transcription factor. The structure defines a clear role for both hydrophobic and acidic residues in protein͞protein complexes involving acidic residue-rich domains in transcription regulatory proteins. R NA polymerase II (RNAP II) is a multisubunit enzyme complex that enters the initiation complex with the carboxylterminal domain (CTD) of its largest subunit in an unphosphorylated form (RNAP IIA). The CTD contains a heptapeptide repeat (YSPTSPS) that becomes extensively phosphorylated (RNAP IIO) primarily at serine-2 and -5 during early stages of transcription (1-3). In the last several years, numerous protein kinases have been implicated in the phosphorylation of the CTD (4-8). This phosphorylation of the CTD enables RNAP II to progress from the initiation phase to a stable elongation complex, and the CTD remains extensively phosphorylated throughout the elongation phase of transcription (4-6). After completion of the transcription cycle, this same RNAP II must be in the unphosphorylated form (RNAP IIA) to be recruited back to the initiation complex (9). Therefore, dephosphorylation of the CTD by a phosphatase(s) is essential to generating a form of the polymerase (RNAP IIA) that is capable of reinitiating transcription.FCP1 [transcription factor IIF (TFIIF)-associating component of the CTD phosphatase], the only known RNAP II CTD-specific phosphatase, was originally partially purified from HeLa cell (10) and yeast (11) extracts. From experiments with this partially purified CTD phosphatase, it was determined that both general transcription factors IIB (TFIIB) and IIF (TFIIF) play important roles in regulating its activity (...

Glycosylation is a dynamic post-translational modification that changes during the development and progression of various malignancies. During the oncogenesis of breast carcinoma, the glycosyltransferase known as N-acetylglucosaminyltransferase Va (GnT-Va) transcript levels and activity are increased due to activated oncogenic signaling pathways. Elevated GnT-V levels leads to increased beta(1,6)-branched N-linked glycan structures on glycoproteins that can be measured using a specific carbohydrate binding protein or lectin known as L-PHA. L-PHA does not bind to nondiseased breast epithelial cells, but during the progression to invasive carcinoma, cells show a progressive increase in L-PHA binding. We have developed a procedure for intact protein L-PHA-affinity enrichment, followed by nanospray ionization mass spectrometry (NSI-MS/MS), to identify potential biomarkers for breast carcinoma. We identified L-PHA reactive glycoproteins from matched normal (nondiseased) and malignant tissue isolated from patients with invasive ductal breast carcinoma. Comparison analysis of the data identified 34 proteins that were enriched by L-PHA fractionation in tumor relative to normal tissue for at least 2 cases of ductal invasive breast carcinoma. Of these 34 L-PHA tumor enriched proteins, 12 are common to all 4 matched cases analyzed. These results indicate that lectin enrichment strategies targeting a particular glycan change associated with malignancy can be an effective method of identifying potential biomarkers for breast carcinoma.