An NFAT-dependent enhancer is necessary for anti-IgM-mediated induction of murine CD5 expression in primary splenic B cells.

CD5 is a 67-kDa membrane glycoprotein the expression of which in murine splenic B cells is induced by surface IgM cross-linking. To analyze this induction, we transiently transfected primary splenic B cells with luciferase reporter constructs driven by various wild-type and mutated CD5 5'-flanking sequences. The transfected cells were subsequently cultured in medium with or without F(ab')2 anti-IgM (anti-IgM), and luciferase expression was assayed. Using this approach, we identified a 122-bp enhancer element necessary for anti-IgM-mediated induction of the CD5 promoter. Electrophoretic mobility shift assays indicated that four inducible and four constitutive complexes form on the enhancer fragment in nuclear extracts of primary B cells. Supershift assays revealed that two of the inducible complexes contained NFATc. Point mutations that abolished NFAT binding severely impaired enhancer function. Thus, CD5 is a target of NFAT in B cells. A third inducible complex required an intact H4TF-1 site. One of several constitutive complexes required an intact Ebox site while a second required an intact putative ets binding site. Mutation of the H4TF-1, Ebox, and Ets sites, in the presence of wild-type NFAT sites, significantly reduced the activity of the enhancer. Therefore, the induction of B cell CD5 expression requires NFAT binding and binding to at least one of three additional sites in the CD5 enhancer.