When SIN1 (MAPKAP1) was used as the bait in a two-hybrid screen of a human bone marrow cDNA library, its most frequent partner was poly(rC) binding protein 2 (PCBP2/hnRNP-E2), which associates with the N-terminal domain of SIN1 and can be coimmunoprecipitated with SIN1 and the cytoplasmic domain of the IFN receptor IFNAR2 from HeLa cells. SIN1, but not PCBP2, also associates with the receptors that bind TNF␣. PCBP2 is known to bind pyrimidinerich repeats within the 3 UTR of mRNAs and has been implicated in control of RNA stability and translation and selective capindependent transcription. RNAi silencing of either SIN1 or PCBP2 renders cells sensitive to basal and stress-induced apoptosis. Stress in the form of TNF␣ and H2O2 treatments rapidly raises the cell content of SIN1 and PCBP2, an effect reversible by inhibiting MAPK14. A meta analysis of human microarray information with an algorithm that discerns similarities in gene-regulatory profiles shows that SIN1 and PCBP2 are generally coregulated with large numbers of genes implicated in both cell survival and death and in cellular stress responses, including RNA translation and processing. We predict that SIN1 is a scaffold protein that organizes antiapoptotic responses in stressed cells, whereas PCBP2, its binding partner, provides for the selective expression of cell survival factors through posttranslational events.apoptosis ͉ interferon ͉ stress kinase-interacting protein 1 ͉ yeast two-hybrid assay W hen faced with environmental stressors such as reactive oxygen species, inflammatory shock, or viral infection, cells may react by either boosting protective mechanisms or undergoing programmed cell death. A delicate balance is maintained between pathways that promote survival or death, and this balance can be affected by a number of cytokines, including members of the IL, IFN, and TNF families (1). The type 1 IFN in particular have the ability to promote (2, 3) or prevent (4) cell death depending on the circumstances. Exposure of cells to stress induces compensatory activation of multiple intracellular signaling pathways, among which is the one controlled by p38 MAPK (MAPK14), also known as stress-activated protein kinase (5).We previously used yeast two-hybrid genetic screens to identify stress kinase-interacting protein 1 (SIN1; MAPKAP1) as a factor that associates with the IFN receptor subunit IFNAR2 (6). Cells in which the SIN1 gene has been ablated or where gene expression had been knocked down by RNAi silencing are susceptible to stress (7,8). SIN1 is represented as a single gene in all metazoan species and fungi so far examined, is highly conserved in vertebrates, and is expressed in most, if not all, tissues of the mouse (6). Despite this ubiquity, it has until recently been poorly studied, and its mechanisms of action remain unclear. It was originally described as a gene product that modulated RAS function in Saccharomyces cerevisiae (9). Later, a yeast two-hybrid screen of a Schizosaccharomyces pombe cDNA library identified an apparent ortholog of t...