Interleukin-6 and leukemia inhibitory factor induction of JunB is regulated by distinct cell type-specific cis-acting elements.

Interleukin (IL)-6 plays an important role in a wide range of biological activities, including differentiation of murine M1 myeloid leukemic cells into mature macrophages. At the onset of M1 differentiation, a set of myeloid differentiation primary response (MyD) genes are induced, including the proto-oncogene for JunB. In order to examine the molecular nature of the mechanisms by which IL-6 activates the immediate early expression of MyD genes, JunB was used as a paradigm. A novel IL-6 response element, -65/-52 IL-6RE, to which a 100-kDa protein complex is bound, has been identified on the JunB promoter. Leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF)-induced activation of JunB in M1 cells was also mediated via the -65/-52 IL-6RE. The STAT3 and CRE-like binding sites of the JunB promoter, identified as IL-6-responsive elements in HepG2 liver cells were found, however, to play no role in JunB inducibility by IL-6 in M1 myeloid cells. Conversely, the -65/-52 IL-6RE is shown not to be necessary for JunB inducibility by IL-6 or LIF in liver cells. It appears, therefore, that immediate early activation of JunB is regulated differently in M1 myeloid cells than in HepG2 liver cells. This indicates that distinct cis-acting control elements participate in cell type-specific induction of JunB by members of the IL-6 cytokine superfamily.