MOLECULAR-CLONING AND FUNCTIONAL-CHARACTERIZATION OF MURINE CDNA-ENCODING TRANSCRIPTION FACTOR NFATC

Transcription factors of the NFAT (nuclear factor of activated T cells ) family play important roles in immune and inflammatory responses by regulating the expression of genes encoding cytokines and immunoregula tory proteins. Here we describe cloning and characterization of full-l ength cDNA encoding murine (m) NFATc which predicts that the protein h as all the conserved structural motifs of NFAT family members, includi ng the rel homology domain, the NFAT homology domain and the nuclear t ranslocation signals. mNFATc complexed with AP-1 bound specifically to the murine IL-2 NFAT recognition sequence and activated transcription from the co-transfected IL-2 promoter in COS-7 cells. Northern blot a nalysis showed that the cDNA probe hybridized with a 4.5 kb transcript which is highly inducible in murine T cells. By Northern and in situ hybridization, mNFATc transcript was detected from the early stage of development. In the mouse embryo, mNFATc transcript was strongly expre ssed in thymus, lung and submandibular gland and weakly in skeletal mu scle and heart suggesting that mNFATc may have a role both in embryoge nesis and in mature T cells. (C) 1997 Academic Press.