Aim: To investigate the effects of IFN-gamma and the inhibitor of NF-kappaB(BAY11-7082) on BAFF-R gene promoter activity.
Methods: The fragments with different lengths of the 5'-flanking region of BAFF-R gene were amplified by PCR.Then PCR products were cloned into Luciferase reporter vector (pGL3-Basic) to construct eight recombinant plasmids. These recombinant plasmids were transiently transfected into KM3 cells to locate the promoter region with the highest activity. Then cells transfected with recombinant plasmid with the highest promoter activity were cultured on media in the absence or presence of IFN-gamma and BAY11-7082 and relative luciferase activity were tested and compared. Meanwhile BAFF-R mRNA expression were also examined and compared before and after IFN-gamma and BAY11-7082 were added into cell medium.
Results: IFN-gamma can promote BAFF-R promoter activity and up-regulate BAFF-R mRNA expression. And BAY11-7082 can inhibit BAFF-R promoter activity and down-regulate BAFF-R mRNA expression.
Conclusion: IFN-gamma and the NF-kappaB pathway could be involved in regulating the transcription and mRNA expression of BAFF-R gene.