1. TAZ is a coactivator for Pax8 and TTF-1, two transcription factors involved in thyroid differentiation
- Author
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Barbara D'Andrea, Anna Mascia, Tina Di Palma, Annamaria Liguoro, Giovanna L. Liguori, Mariastella Zannini, Andrea Pappalardo, Tiziana de Cristofaro, and Dolores Del Prete
- Subjects
TAZ ,Male ,endocrine system diseases ,medicine.medical_treatment ,Thyroid Nuclear Factor 1 ,Thyroid Gland ,Mice ,Transcription (biology) ,Transcriptional regulation ,Paired Box Transcription Factors ,In Situ Hybridization ,Regulation of gene expression ,Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction ,Thyroid ,Gene Expression Regulation, Developmental ,Nuclear Proteins ,Cell Differentiation ,respiratory system ,Cell biology ,DNA-Binding Proteins ,medicine.anatomical_structure ,TTF-1 ,Female ,Protein Binding ,endocrine system ,Blotting, Western ,Thyroid differentiation ,Biology ,Thyroglobulin ,Cell Line ,PAX8 Transcription Factor ,Coactivator ,medicine ,Animals ,Humans ,Transcription factor ,Cell Nucleus ,Cell Biology ,Embryo, Mammalian ,Pax8 ,Molecular biology ,Gene regulation ,Rats ,Mutation ,Trans-Activators ,PAX8 ,Acyltransferases ,HeLa Cells ,Transcription Factors - Abstract
Pax8 and TTF-1 are transcription factors involved in the morphogenesis of the thyroid gland and in the transcriptional regulation of thyroid-specific genes. Both proteins are expressed in few tissues but their simultaneous presence occurs only in the thyroid where they interact physically and functionally allowing the regulation of genes that are markers of the thyroid differentiated phenotype. TAZ is a transcriptional coactivator that regulates the activity of several transcription factors therefore playing a central role in tissue-specific transcription. The recently demonstrated physical and functional interaction between TAZ and TTF-1 in the lung raised the question of whether TAZ could be an important regulatory molecule also in the thyroid. In this study, we demonstrate the presence of TAZ in thyroid cells and the existence of an important cooperation between TAZ and the transcription factors Pax8 and TTF-1 in the modulation of thyroid gene expression. In addition, we reveal that the three proteins are co-expressed in the nucleus of differentiated thyroid cells and that TAZ interacts with both Pax8 and TTF-1, in vitro and in vivo. More importantly, we show that this interaction leads to a significant enhancement of the transcriptional activity of Pax8 and TTF-1 on the thyroglobulin promoter thus suggesting a role of TAZ in the control of genes involved in thyroid development and differentiation.
- Published
- 2009
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