CD40 ligand (CD40L or CD154) is regulated at the posttranscriptional level by an activation-induced process that results in a highly stable transcript at extended times of T cell activation. Transcript stability is mediated by polypyrimidine tract-binding protein (PTB)-containing complexes (Complex I and II) that bind to three adjacent CU-rich sequences within the 3′ untranslated region (3′UTR). To assess the role of PTB in the expression and distribution of CD40L mRNA, PTB was targeted using shRNA in both primary T cells and a T cell line that recapitulates the stability phase of regulated CD40L mRNA decay. PTB knockdown resulted in a marked decrease in the mRNA stability that resulted in lowered CD40L surface expression. PTB was also critical for appropriate distribution of CD40L mRNA between the nucleus and cytoplasm and in the cytoplasm between the cytosol and the translating polysomes. The activation-induced formation of PTB-specific RNP complexes was observed only with cytoplasmic and not nuclear PTB indicating functional differences in the protein defined by cellular localization. Finally, we observed that cytoplasmic and nuclear PTB isoforms were differentially modified relative to each other and that the changes in cytoplasmic PTB were consistent with activation-induced phosphorylation. Together this work suggests that distinctly modified PTB regulates CD40L expression at multiple steps by 1) retaining CD40L mRNA in the nucleus, 2) directly regulating mRNA stability at late times of activation and 3) forming a ribonuclear complex that preferentially associates with translating ribosomes thus leading to an enhanced level of CD40L protein.

SummaryWe previously identified a cis-acting element within the 3 0 untranslated region of CD40 ligand messenger RNA (mRNA) that is composed of three complex binding sites and acts to increase mRNA stability in both in vitro and in vivo systems. We now demonstrate the functional consequences of the three binding sites with respect to increasing both luciferase activity and mRNA stability in a heterologous transcript expressed in a T-cell line. The internal region B was shown to be a bona fide stability element because its presence increased luciferase activity fourfold over the unmodified transcript and its removal from the XbaI-HaeIII region resulted in rapid degradation of the transcript. Region A contained both a binding site for a polypyrimidine-tract-binding protein (PTB)-mediated complex (Complex I) and an upstream, adjacent sequence that was a negative regulator of mRNA stability. Region C bound Complex II, which contained both PTB and heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoproteinL (hnRNPL), and was less effective as a stability element on its own compared to region B. Our findings demonstrate differential levels of activity for the three binding sites relative to the turnover of CD40 ligand mRNA, suggesting that the lack of binding of Complex I/II during the early stages of T-cell activation contributes to the rapid degradation of the CD40 ligand mRNA transcript.

Analysis of subclass-specific germline transcription in activated peripheral B cells revealed a highly biased expression pattern of the four Iγ transcripts to signals through CD40 and IL-4. This difference was most pronounced when comparing the profile of Iγ1 and Iγ4 transcripts and was not expected given the very high degree of sequence conservation between promoters. In this report, the influence of sequence differences on the regulation of the Iγ1 and Iγ4 promoters has been investigated given the highly muted transcriptional activity of the Iγ4 promoter. Two regions were analyzed where single nucleotide differences corresponded to major changes in transcriptional activity. These regions were the previously defined CD40 response region containing three putative NF-κB-binding sites and the downstream 36-bp region containing CREB/activating transcription factor and κB6 sites. Mutation of a single nucleotide at position 6 within the Iγ4 κB6 site increased promoter activity to ∼50% of the activity of the Iγ1 promoter. Furthermore, elevated promoter strength corresponded with increased binding of p50, p65, c-Rel, RelB, and p300 proteins to a level comparable with that of Iγ1. Minor nucleotide changes to both the Iγ4 CD40 response region and the 36-bp element resulted in a response undistinguishable from an Iγ1 response, suggesting cooperation between the two regulatory regions for optimal transcriptional activity. Collectively, these mutational analyses suggest that minor sequence differences contribute to the composition and affinity of transcriptional protein complexes regulating subclass-specific germline transcription, which in part impacts the overall level of class switch recombination to targeted CH regions.