Expression of IFN regulatory factor family proteins in lymphocytes. Induction of Stat-1 and IFN consensus sequence binding protein expression by T cell activation.

Interferon consensus sequence binding protein (ICSBP) is a transcription factor of the IFN regulatory factor (IRF) family. Evidence indicates that this family has a function in the immune system. Unlike other members of the family, ICSBP is expressed exclusively in the immune system. In this work, immunoblot analysis was performed to study expression of ICSBP and other members of the family in various murine lymphocytes. The results show that all IRF family members are expressed constitutively in B cells throughout development, and in resting and activated cells. In contrast, ICSBP expression was undetectable in thymocytes and resting T cells, while all other IRF proteins tested (IRF-1, IRF-2, and ISGF3-gamma) were detected in these cells. Induction of ICSBP (and weakly IRF-1, but not other members) was observed upon activation of T cells following anti-CD3 Ab binding or Con A stimulation. Once T cells were activated, ICSBP was expressed stably in both Th1 and Th2 cells. We show that Stat-1, which binds to the IFN-gamma-responsive element of the ICSBP promoter, was induced following anti-CD3 Ab and Con A stimulation. Stat-1 induction was found in T cells of IFN-gamma+/+, but not of IFN-gamma-/- mice, indicating that T cell activation stimulates the Stat pathway of transcription that is mediated through IFN-gamma. IFN-gamma-activated Stat-1 partly accounted for ICSBP induction in activated T cells, as levels of induction were lower in IFN-gamma-/- than in IFN+/+ T cells. Taken together, these results show that activation of ICSBP is coupled with T cell activation that is partly due to IFN-gamma-induced Stat-1.