T-cell activation signals and human T-cell leukemia virus type I-encoded p40x protein activate the mouse granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor gene through a common DNA element.

Activation of T cells by an antigen, a mitogen, or a combination of a phorbol ester (12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate [TPA]) and a calcium ionophore (A23187) leads to induction of a set of lymphokine genes. Treatment of human T-cell leukemia line Jurkat by a mitogen or p40x, a transactivator protein encoded by human T-cell leukemia virus type I, activates many transfected lymphokine genes in a transient transfection assay. To study the mechanism of lymphokine gene induction, we examined the effects of mitogen stimulation and p40x on the gene for the mouse granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor (GM-CSF) in Jurkat cells. Deletion and mutation analyses showed that the 5'-flanking region of the gene for the GM-CSF is composed of two types of regulatory elements. One sequence, located at positions -95 to -73, determines response to stimulation by either TPA-A23187 or p40x. This region contains conserved lymphokine element 2, which appears in the gene for interleukin 3 (IL-3) and is followed by a GC-rich stretch. This GC-rich stretch alone specifies inducible response to p40x but not to TPA-A23187. Another sequence, located at positions -113 to -96 upstream of a TATA-like sequence, mediates inducible response to p40x but not to TPA-A23187. This sequence includes conserved lymphokine element 1, which appears in several lymphokine-cytokine genes, such as those for IL-3, G-CSF, and IL-2. We previously showed that the simian virus 40 early region promoter was also induced by a mitogen or p40x in Jurkat cells. Deletion analysis showed that the minimum region require for stimulation by both signals are identical. These results, which indicate that p40(x) stimulates transcription of the gene for the GM-CSF or the simian virus 40 early region promoter through the same DNA element or an overlapping DNA element required for induction by a mitogen, lend further support to the notion that p40(x) can exert its function by activating a component(s) of the T-cell signal transduction pathway which is activated by an antigen or a mitogen.