STAT5 is a critical mediator of a variety of cytokine signaling whose transcriptional activity is regulated by associating with various proteins. During a search for STAT5-interacting proteins, we identified SHD1, a mammalian homologue of yeast gene Sac3, as a potential interacter. SHD1 was localized in the nucleus, and induced by cytokines that activate STAT5, such as erythropoietin, interleukin-2 (IL-2), or IL-3. SHD1 interacted specifically with STAT5A and STAT5B, and interestingly, it specifically repressed STAT5-dependent transcription in vitro without affecting the stability or phosphorylation of STAT5 protein. Gene disruption study revealed that
IntroductionSignal transducer and activator of transcription (STAT) is one of the central mediators of cytokine signaling. 1 Of the 7 known members of mammalian STATs, 2 highly related STAT5 molecules, namely STAT5A and STAT5B, are considered to be of particular interest since they are activated by a wide array of cytokines including interleukin-2 (IL-2), IL-3, IL-5, IL-7, erythropoietin (Epo), and granulocyte macrophage-colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF). 1 STAT5 is implicated in the self-renewal of hematopoietic stem cells 2 and is constitutively activated in a variety of leukemias, 3 indicating that STAT5 plays a critical role in normal and malignant hematopoiesis. 4 The activities of STATs are regulated by various protein modifications, such as tyrosine phosphorylation/dephosphorylation, serine phosphorylation, ubiquitination, and arginine methylation. 5 The phosphorylation and dephosphorylation of tyrosine residue is the most important posttranslational modification common to all STAT proteins, directly affecting dimerization, nuclear translocation and export, and DNA binding. 1,6,7 The phosphorylation of serine residue in the C-terminal activation domain is essential for the maximal transcriptional activity of STAT1. 8,9 Arginine methylation also affects the DNA-binding activity of STAT1. 10 Ubiquitination is particularly important for terminating the STAT activities by targeting the protein to the ubiquitin-proteasome degradation pathway. 11 These regulations are, in part, achieved by association of STATs with other regulatory molecules, which include SLIM and PIAS family of proteins. [12][13][14][15][16] In addition to protein modifications, STATs are also regulated at the level of transcription by associating with transcriptional coactivators and corepressors. STATs associate with CREB-binding protein (CBP)/p300, universal coactivators for many transcription factors, through the C-terminal activation domain. [17][18][19] We have previously shown that a nuclear receptor corepressor, SMRT, associated with STAT5 through its coiled-coil domain and repressed the STAT5-dependent transcription. 20 However, it remains unclear precisely how such transcriptional repression plays a role in the STAT5-dependent transcription in a physiological context.As is commonly seen with other signaling pathways, the Jak-STAT pathway also succumbs to the negative feedback regula...