PT - JOURNAL ARTICLE AU - Malin Söderberg AU - Françoise Raffalli-Mathieu AU - Matti A. Lang TI - Inflammation Modulates the Interaction of Heterogeneous Nuclear Ribonucleoprotein (hnRNP) I/Polypyrimidine Tract Binding Protein and hnRNP L with the 3′Untranslated Region of the Murine Inducible Nitric-Oxide Synthase mRNA AID - 10.1124/mol.62.2.423 DP - 2002 Aug 01 TA - Molecular Pharmacology PG - 423--431 VI - 62 IP - 2 4099 - http://molpharm.aspetjournals.org/content/62/2/423.short 4100 - http://molpharm.aspetjournals.org/content/62/2/423.full SO - Mol Pharmacol2002 Aug 01; 62 AB - Interaction of two members of the heterogeneous nuclear ribonucleoprotein (hnRNP) family with the 3′untranslated region (UTR) of the murine inducible nitric-oxide synthase (iNOS) mRNA is demonstrated in this study. An iNOS RNA-protein complex is formed using protein extracts from untreated and septic shock treated mouse liver. UV cross-linking reveals that the complex consists of at least two proteins, with apparent molecular masses of 60 and 70 kDa, respectively. The 60-kDa protein binding site lies within a 112-nt pyrimidine-rich sequence, approximately 160 nt from the coding sequence, and the RNA-protein complex can be precipitated by a monoclonal antibody directed against hnRNP I [also named polypyrimidine tract binding protein (PTB)]. The 70-kDa protein binds a 43-nt sequence near the 3′end of the 3′UTR and is immunoprecipitated by a monoclonal antibody against hnRNP L. A computer-simulated conformation of the 3′UTR suggests that both binding sites reside in regions easily accessible for a protein. Supershifts of the native RNA-protein complex could only be achieved with anti-hnRNP L, suggesting that within this multiprotein RNA complex, only hnRNP L is exposed to the antibodies, whereas the hnRNP I/PTB is mainly responsible for its interaction with the mRNA. Up-regulation of iNOS by septic shock reduces the RNA-protein complex formation, thus showing that hnRNP I/PTB and hnRNP L binding to the iNOS mRNA is modulated by inflammation. This suggests a novel function for the two previously described proteins as regulators of the iNOS gene.