A pre-B- and B cell-specific DNA-binding protein, EBB-1, which binds to the promoter of the VpreB1 gene.

The VpreB1 protein is thought to be expressed on the surface of pre-B cells in association with lambda 5 and mu heavy chain, and to play an important role on B cell differentiation. The expression of VpreB1 and lambda 5 is pre-B cell specific, and regulated at the initiation of transcription. We have identified at least two sequence-specific DNA-binding proteins which bind to the region -191 to -74 of the promoter of the mouse VpreB1 gene. These DNA-binding proteins also bind to the promoter of the mouse lambda 5 gene. One of the two DNA-binding proteins, called EBB-1, is restricted to pre-B and B cells, but not detected in plasma cells, T cells and cells of other lineages. Transient transfection analysis of reporter constructs revealed that the binding sites of these proteins play a significant role in the activity of the promoter, especially the binding site of EBB-1. Taken together these results suggest that EBB-1 might be one of the crucial factors which regulates a series of intracellular events in B cell differentiation.