Interferon-tau (oIFNtau), the major secretory product of ovine conceptuses between days 13 and 21 (day 0=day of estrus) of pregnancy, is implicated in the process of maternal recognition of pregnancy. Culturing of day-14 and day-16 conceptus tissues in the presence of human granulocyte macrophage-colony stimulating factor (hGM-CSF) or interleukin-3 (IL-3) produces a marked increase in oIFNtau mRNA and protein expression. Since GM-CSF and IL-3 are localized at the luminal and glandular epithelia of the ovine endometrium, maternally derived GM-CSF and IL-3 may affect conceptus production of oIFNtau in a paracrine manner. However, the molecular mechanisms by which endometrial GM-CSF and IL-3 up-regulate oIFNtau production have not been defined. As an initial investigation of the signaling pathway regulating the GM-CSF induction of the oIFNtau gene, day-16 conceptuses were treated with an inducer, phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (PMA) and an inhibitor, calphostin C of the protein kinase C (PKC) pathway. Treatment with either 150 units/ml hGM-CSF (P<0.01) or 10 nM PMA (P<0.05) resulted in a significant increase in oIFNtau mRNA expression. Pretreatment of conceptuses with 1 microM PMA for 12 h to produce PKC-deficient tissues or treatment with 50 mM calphostin C abolished the hGM-CSF-induced increase in oIFNtau mRNA. An in vitro expression system was established for the analysis of oIFNtau gene regulatory sequences. The oIFNtau010 gene has been isolated previously and found to be the principal oIFNtau gene up-regulated during the preimplantation period. 5'-Flanking regions of the oIFNtau010 gene, 2 kb and 0.8 kb, were cloned into a basic chloramphenicol acetyltransferase reporter plasmid. These oIFNtau010 promoter constructs, along with expression controls, were transfected into human choriocarcinoma cells (JAR and JEG3) and their responsiveness to hGM-CSF and second messenger system activators including PMA, calcium ionophore (A23187) and 8-bromo-cAMP were characterized. The oIFNtau010 promoter constructs were up-regulated by hGM-CSF and PMA treatments (P<0.01). Combined treatment with PMA and A23187 prevented the promoter activation seen with PMA alone. The conceptus culture data, along with the results from the transfection experiments, suggest that the stimulatory effect of GM-CSF on oIFNtau is mediated through the PKC second messenger system.

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