TRANSCRIPTIONAL REGULATION OF THE MHC CLASS-I HLA-A11 PROMOTER BY THEZINC-FINGER PROTEIN ZFX

Regulation of the human MHC class I HLA-A11 promoter is governed by a complex array of regulatory elements. One of these elements, shown her e to be critical for the transcriptional activity of the promoter, was used to screen a lambda gt11 library and allowed the identification o f a cDNA which coded for the zinc finger protein ZFX. ZFX was shown to bind the sequences AGGGCCCCA and AGGCCCCGA, located respectively at p ositions -271 to -263 and -242 to -234 of the HLA-A11 promoter, with s imilar affinities through its three C-terminal zinc fingers. ZFX(575), a short isoform of ZFX, activates transcription from the HLA-A11 prom oter in a Leydig cell line.