B-cell-specific enhancer activity of conserved upstream elements of the class II major histocompatibility complex DQB gene.

A 95-base-pair immediate upstream sequence of the human class II major histocompatibility complex DQB gene containing the conserved X and Y elements showed enhancer activity in a transient expression assay. An "enhancer test plasmid" harboring the bacterial chloramphenicol acetyltransferase gene under the control of a truncated simian virus 40 enhancerless early promoter was employed. The DQB sequence inserted into this plasmid was active as an enhancer in Raji cells (human Burkitt lymphoma cells) but not active in Jurkat cells (human T-cell leukemia cells) or in HeLa cells (human cervical carcinoma cells). This cell-type specificity suggests that this enhancer activity may be involved in the tissue specificity of the DQB gene that is normally expressed only in mature B cells, macrophages, and thymic epithelial cells. Deletion analysis showed that both X and Y box sequences are essential for the full activity of the enhancer sequence and that these two sequences may function in a cooperative manner as cis-acting elements. Further deletions were used to define the 5' border of the X element. These results suggest that previously characterized protein factors that bind to X and Y include transcription factors involved in the cell-type specificity of this enhancer activity.