Abstract
Interferons (IFNs) have an important role in cell growth and differentiation. The most well-known function of IFNs is their antiviral activity; viral infections result in induction of the transcription of the IFN-α and IFN-β genes1–3. Recently we isolated the gene encoding a transcription factor, IRF-1, that may play a part in the induction of IFN genes4,5. Interestingly, the IRF-1 gene itself is virus-inducible, suggesting the importance of de novo production of IRF-1 in IFN gene induction5. Here we show that high-level expression of the cloned mouse IRF-1 gene in monkey COS cells results in the induction of endogeneous IFN-α and IFN-β genes without viral stimulation. Furthermore, we demonstrate the induction of these genes by an IRF-1/yeast GAL4 chimaeric transcription factor. This may be the first demonstration of the specific induction of silent chromosomal genes by transfection of a single transcription factor gene in mammalian cells.
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Fujita, T., Kimura, Y., Miyamoto, M. et al. Induction of endogenous IFN-α and IFN-β genes by a regulatory transcription factor, IRF-1. Nature 337, 270–272 (1989). https://doi.org/10.1038/337270a0
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/337270a0
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