Down-regulation of human granzyme B expression by glucocorticoids. Dexamethasone inhibits binding to the Ikaros and AP-1 regulatory elements of the granzyme B promoter.

The serine protease granzyme B is an essential component of the granule exocytosis pathway, a major apoptotic mechanism used by cytotoxic T lymphocytes and natural killer cells to induce target cell apoptosis. Granzyme B gene transcription is induced in activated lymphocytes upon antigenic stimulation, and several regulatory regions including CBF, AP-1, and Ikaros binding sites have been shown to be essential in the control of granzyme B promoter activation. Dexamethasone, a glucocorticoid that is widely used as an immunomodulatory and anti-inflammatory agent, inhibits granzyme B mRNA transcript in phytohemagglutinin-activated peripheral blood mononuclear cells. Transfection of a reporter construct containing the -148 to +60 region of the human granzyme B promoter demonstrated that this region was the target for dexamethasone repression. Mutation of Ikaros or AP-1 binding sites in the context of the granzyme B promoter demonstrated that both sites participate in dexamethasone-mediated inhibition of the granzyme B promoter activity. Electromobility shift assay revealed that dexamethasone abolished the binding of nuclear transcription factors to the Ikaros binding site and reduced AP-1 binding activity. These results indicate that dexamethasone is able to abrogate the transcriptional activity of the human granzyme B gene promoter by inhibiting the binding of nuclear factors at the AP-1 and Ikaros sites.