Poster abstracts

Poster number 59 submitted by Suman Govindaraju

Transcriptional Regulation of HuR in Renal Growth and Stress

Suman S Govindaraju (Physiology & Cell Biology, OSUMC), Dina A Ayupova (Physiology & Cell Biology, OSUMC), Beth S Lee (Physiology & Cell Biology, OSUMC)

Abstract:
HuR is an RNA binding protein that plays a protective role during cellular stress, and when overexpressed, is strongly associated with tumorigenicity. The aims of the present study are to evaluate the regulation of HuR expression during growth and ischemic stress in renal tubule cells. We previously showed that HuR mRNA is transcribed as two forms with alternate 5’ UTRs and translatability, and that expression of these forms differs in normal growth and recovery. We also showed that the shorter HuR mRNA, which is translated during stress, is transcribed through BMP/Smad 1/5/8 signaling. In this work, we identify NF-kB and Sp/KLF promoter elements as being critical for transcription of the long form HuR mRNA. Our work so far suggests that the transcription factor KLF8, in conjunction with NF-kB, is regulated during cell stress and recovery, and correspondingly stimulates expression of the long form HuR mRNA.

Keywords: RNA binding, Transcription, Stress