Cellular homeoproteins have been shown to regulate the transcription of several viruses, including herpes simplex viruses, human papillomaviruses, and mouse mammary tumor viruses. Previous studies investigating the anti-viral mechanisms of several cyclin-dependent kinase inhibitors showed that the homeoproteins, pre B-cell leukemia transcription factor 1 (PBX1) and PBXregulating protein-1 (PREP1), function as transcriptional activators of Moloney murine leukemia virus. Here, we examined the involvement of cellular homeoproteins in regulating the activity of the human cytomegalovirus immediate early (CMV IE) promoter. We identified a 45-bp element located at position ؊593 to ؊549 upstream of the transcription start site of the CMV IE gene, which contains multiple putative homeoprotein binding motifs. Gel shift assays demonstrated the physical association between a homeodomain protein, pancreatic-duodenal homeobox factor-1 (PDX1) and the 45-bp cytomegalovirus (CMV) region. We further determined that PDX1 represses the CMV IE promoter activity in 293 cells. Overexpression of PDX1 resulted in a decrease in transcription of the CMV IE gene. Conversely, blocking PDX1 protein synthesis and mutating the PDX1 binding sites enhanced CMV IE-dependent transcription. Collectively, our results represent the first work demonstrating that a cellular homeoprotein, PDX1, may be a repressor involved in regulation of human CMV gene expression.
Cyclin-dependent kinases (CDKs)1 are key regulators of cell cycle control and transcription, which represent attractive targets for cancer therapy. Two CDK inhibitors (CDKIs), flavopiridol and UCN-1, are currently in clinical trials as potential anti-cancer therapeutics (1, 2). Previous studies also have shown the viral inhibitory effects of several CDKIs, including flavopiridol, purvalanol A, roscovitine, olomoucine, and 5,6-dichloro-1--D-ribofuranosylbenzimidazole, on human immunodeficiency virus, herpes simplex virus (HSV), and Moloney murine leukemia virus (MLV) infection (3-6). Interestingly, all of these anti-viral CDKIs target CDK7 or CDK9, which are required for cellular transcription (5, 7-9).It has been hypothesized that the CDKIs block viral replication by inhibiting the transcription of specific cellular genes that are required for viral infection. Our previous work tested this hypothesis using microarray technology and identified a cellular homeoprotein, pre B-cell leukemia transcription factor 1 (PBX1), as a target of the CDKIs and a required cellular co-factor for Moloney MLV replication (3). PBX1 was shown to form a heterodimer with another homeodomain protein, PBXregulating protein-1 (PREP1), and function as a transcriptional activator of Moloney MLV (3). The PBX1-PREP1 DNA binding motif, TGATTGAC, was further shown to be conserved in the long terminal repeats of 14 other murine retroviruses (3), suggesting the importance of homeoproteins in regulating retroviral transcription.A number of cellular homeoproteins, including OCT-1, Brn3a, and Brn-3b, as well as CCAAT displaceme...