3). Whether other previously designated IFN-inducible genes of pDCs such as MXA and CXCL10 also require NAB2 induction for their type I IFN-independent expression [13] remains to be determined. Staurosporine molecular weight While TLR-mediated signaling and IFN-R signaling can independently induce TRAIL expression,

also crosstalk of these signaling pathways is found. This is evidenced by p38MAPK-mediated type I IFN production ([32, 33], data not shown), which may explain our findings that p38MAPK induces TRAIL independently of NAB2. In addition, PI3K signaling induces IRF-7 translocation to the nucleus in activated pre-pDCs [34], a process required for type I IFN production. However, we found a mere 50% reduction of the IFN-β burst in CAL-1 cells upon PI3K block,

while TRAIL induction was fully abrogated (Fig. 4B and E and Supporting Information Fig. 5D). Therefore, our data point to PI3K-NAB2 activation being the dominant regulatory pathway for TRAIL induction directly Doxorubicin clinical trial downstream of TLR triggering. Whether IRF-7 translocation regulates also the induction of NAB2 in addition to type I IFN, or whether their induction occurs independently but in parallel downstream of PI3K signaling, remains to be determined. We found that PI3K signaling induces NAB2 upon TLR triggering, but does so independently of mTOR. Which downstream targets of PI3K govern NAB2 induction is to date unresolved. Potential targets of PI3K activity Lck are the NAB2 binding partners EGR-1, 2, and 3 that mediate NAB2 transcription as part of their feedback loop [27]. We are currently investigating this

possibility. Interestingly, NAB2 induces TRAIL expression in human pDCs, but suppresses TRAIL induction in murine CD8+ T cells [21]. This apparent divergence of NAB2 activity was also found in other cell types and has been attributed to different cell lineages [27]. It is therefore of interest to compare NAB2 activity in pDCs with lymphoid cells such as B cells and NK cells. Our preliminary studies indeed point to such cell lineage specificity, and indicate that basal mRNA levels of EGR-1, 2, and 3 — the binding partners of NAB2 — vary between different cell lineages (M. Balzarolo and M.C. Wolkers, unpublished observations). Provided that the EGR proteins can have both stimulatory (EGR-1) and pro-apoptotic (EGR-2/3) functions [19], this differential expression profile of EGR genes could result in the differential transcription activity of NAB2. Alternatively, it has been shown that the co-activatory versus corepressive action of NAB2 is dictated by the affinity of the EGR target genes to the promoter region, which depends on conserved (= high affinity and co-repressive) versus nonconserved (=low affinity and co-activatory) EGR-binding sites [35].