First Author | Yamamoto Y | Year | 2003 |
Journal | Nature | Volume | 423 |
Issue | 6940 | Pages | 655-9 |
PubMed ID | 12789342 | Mgi Jnum | J:230351 |
Mgi Id | MGI:5758804 | Doi | 10.1038/nature01576 |
Citation | Yamamoto Y, et al. (2003) Histone H3 phosphorylation by IKK-alpha is critical for cytokine-induced gene expression. Nature 423(6940):655-9 |
abstractText | Cytokine-induced activation of the IkappaB kinases (IKK) IKK-alpha and IKK-beta is a key step involved in the activation of the NF-kappaB pathway. Gene-disruption studies of the murine IKK genes have shown that IKK-beta, but not IKK-alpha, is critical for cytokine-induced IkappaB degradation. Nevertheless, mouse embryo fibroblasts deficient in IKK-alpha are defective in the induction of NF-kappaB-dependent transcription. These observations raised the question of whether IKK-alpha might regulate a previously undescribed step to activate the NF-kappaB pathway that is independent of its previously described cytoplasmic role in the phosphorylation of IkappaBalpha. Here we show that IKK-alpha functions in the nucleus to activate the expression of NF-kappaB-responsive genes after stimulation with cytokines. IKK-alpha interacts with CREB-binding protein and in conjunction with Rel A is recruited to NF-kappaB-responsive promoters and mediates the cytokine-induced phosphorylation and subsequent acetylation of specific residues in histone H3. These results define a new nuclear role of IKK-alpha in modifying histone function that is critical for the activation of NF-kappaB-directed gene expression. |