TRIM22/Staf50 - a novel target gene of the tumor suppressor p53

The tumor suppressor gene p53 is a transcription factor that mediates cell cycle arrest, apoptosis and differentiation. p53 mediated differentiation of leukemic cells depends on the transcriptional activity of p53 but so far no obvious differentiation inducing target gene has been identified. Using a cDNA microarray analysis, I identified TRIM22/Staf50 as a novel direct target gene to p53. The function of TRIM22 is largely unknown apart from being an interferon inducible protein and its involvement in inhibiting virus infection. TRIM22 belongs to the family of TRIM proteins (RBCC proteins) consisting of a RING finger, a B-box, a coiled-coil and a variable C-terminal. The TRIM proteins have been shown to be involved in cellular processes like virus infection, ubiquitination, differentiation and apoptosis. I have found that overexpression of TRIM22 increases cell death and co-localizes with the tumor suppressor PML. Interestingly, PML is also interferon inducible, a member of the TRIM family (TRIM19) and involved in functions like apoptosis and viral defense. Furthermore I found that TRIM22 have a role in hematopoietic differentiation and in T lymphocyte activation. Given that TRIM22 mediates cell death and has a role in differentiation and viral defense, I suggest that TRIM22 could be the link between p53 tumor suppression pathways and interferon response pathways. However, further experiments are necessary to reveal the mechanisms of TRIM22 in order to connect these two pathways

Inhibition of microRNA function by antimiR oligonucleotides

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) have emerged as important post-transcriptional regulators of gene expression in many developmental and cellular processes. Moreover, there is now ample evidence that perturbations in the levels of individual or entire families of miRNAs are strongly associated with the pathogenesis of a wide range of human diseases. Indeed, disease-associated miRNAs represent a new class of targets for the development of miRNA-based therapeutic modalities, which may yield patient benefits unobtainable by other therapeutic approaches. The recent explosion in miRNA research has accelerated the development of several computational and experimental approaches for probing miRNA functions in cell culture and in vivo. In this review, we focus on the use of antisense oligonucleotides (antimiRs) in miRNA inhibition for loss-of-function studies. We provide an overview of the currently employed antisense chemistries and their utility in designing antimiR oligonucleotides. Furthermore, we describe the most commonly used in vivo delivery strategies and discuss different approaches for assessment of miRNA inhibition and potential off-target effects. Finally, we summarize recent progress in antimiR mediated pharmacological inhibition of disease-associated miRNAs, which shows great promise in the development of novel miRNA-based therapeutics

Silencing of microRNA-155 in mice during acute inflammatory response leads to derepression of c/ebp Beta and down-regulation of G-CSF

microRNA-155 (miR-155) has been implicated as a central regulator of the immune system, but its function during acute inflammatory responses is still poorly understood. Here we show that exposure of cultured macrophages and mice to lipopolysaccharide (LPS) leads to up-regulation of miR-155 and that the transcription factor c/ebp Beta is a direct target of miR-155. Interestingly, expression profiling of LPS-stimulated macrophages combined with overexpression and silencing of miR-155 in murine macrophages and human monocytic cells uncovered marked changes in the expression of granulocyte colony-stimulating factor (G-CSF), a central regulator of granulopoiesis during inflammatory responses. Consistent with these data, we show that silencing of miR-155 in LPS-treated mice by systemically administered LNA-antimiR results in derepression of the c/ebp Beta isoforms and down-regulation of G-CSF expression in mouse splenocytes. Finally, we report for the first time on miR-155 silencing in vivo in a mouse inflammation model, which underscores the potential of miR-155 antagonists in the development of novel therapeutics for treatment of chronic inflammatory diseases

Silencing of microRNA-21 in vivo ameliorates autoimmune splenomegaly in lupus mice

MicroRNAs (miRNAs) have been implicated in B cell lineage commitment, regulation of T cell differentiation, TCR signalling, regulation of IFN signalling, and numerous other immunological processes. However, their function in autoimmunity, and specifically in systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE), remains poorly understood. B6.Sle123 is a spontaneous genetic mouse model of SLE characterized by autoantibody production, lymphosplenomegaly, and glomerulonephritis. We identified several differentially regulated miRNAs in B and T lymphocytes of B6.Sle123 mice. We found that miR-21 expression in lupus B and T cells is up-regulated and that in vivo silencing of miR-21 using a tiny seed-targeting LNA reversed splenomegaly, one of the cardinal manifestations of autoimmunity in B6.Sle123 mice, and de-repressed PDCD4 expression in vivo and in vitro. In addition, treatment with anti-miR-21 altered CD4/CD8 T cell ratios and reduced Fas receptor-expressing lymphocyte populations. Our study shows that tiny LNAs can be used to efficiently antagonize endogenous miRNAs in peripheral lymphocytes in vivo and in primary lymphocytes cultured ex vivo and can alter the course of a spontaneous genetic disease in mice

Regulation of the interferon-inducible p53 target gene TRIM22 (Staf50) in human T lymphocyte activation

TRIM22 (Staf50) is an interferon (IFN)-inducible protein with unknown function. Recently, we identified TRIM22 as a novel p53 target gene and showed that overexpression of TRIM22 inhibits the clonogenic growth of monoblastic U937 cells. Moreover, expression of TRIM22 is high in lymphoid tissue, and levels decrease during T lymphocyte activation with CD3/CD2/CD28, suggesting that TRIM22 could exert antiproliferative effects. Here, a prominent increase in TRIM22 levels is observed during activation with interleukin-2 (IL-2) or IL-15 in contrast to the decrease observed during CD3/CD2/CD28-induced activation. However, stimulation of cells in these experiments was performed on crude T lymphocytes, allowing indirect regulation between different lymphocyte subtypes to take place. Therefore, to prevent interaction between different lymphocyte subtypes, expression of TRIM22 was examined during activation of sorted T lymphocyte subpopulations. In contrast to the marked changes of TRIM22 during activation of crude T lymphocytes, in isolated subpopulations, TRIM22 expression was not significantly affected in spite of IL-2-induced or CD3/CD2/CD28-induced activation. In addition, in contrast to the TRIM22 mouse ortholog Rpt-1, TRIM22 did not affect levels of CD25 (IL-2R alpha) mRNA. Our data suggest a more complex role for TRIM22 during T lymphocyte activation than merely as an antiproliferative factor. TRIM22 probably has an activation stage-specific role connected to the paracrine crosstalk during T lymphocyte activation

Expression of the IFN-inducible p53-target gene TRIM22 is down-regulated during erythroid differentiation of human bone marrow.

The interferon inducible protein TRIM22 has been identified as a p53 target gene, with possible involvement in proliferation and differentiation of leukaemia cells. Here, the expression levels of TRIM22 during haematopoietic differentiation are characterised. Expression of TRIM22 correlates inversely to differentiation, as TRIM22 is highly expressed in CD34(+) human bone marrow progenitor cells, but declines in mature populations. The erythroid lineage appears as a special case, as TRIM22 expression shows an extreme decrease during late erythroid maturation and is completely undetectable in nucleated erythroid populations in contrast to other lineages. In conclusion, our data Could suggest lineage-specific roles for TRIM22 during haematopoietic differentiation