Regulation of Egr-1 by association with the proteasome component C8

Primary response transcription factor, Egr-1, is rapidly activated by a variety of extracellular stimuli. Activation of Egr-1 is shown to function as a master switch activated by ischemia to trigger expression of pivotal regulators of inflammation, coagulation and vascular hyperpermeability. Egr-1 is a short-lived protein, but the mechanism that regulates its stability has not yet been clarified. In this study, the yeast two-hybrid screening revealed that Egr-1 interacts significantly with PRC8 (proteasome component C8) and the specific interaction was confirmed by GST pull-down assay and coimmunoprecipitation. Interestingly, we found that the PRC8-mediated regulation of Egr-1 activity is associated with the proteasome pathway and PRC8 inhibits the transcriptional activity of Egr-1. In addition, Egr-1 protein was specifically multiubiquitinated by ubiquitin. These data strongly imply that Egr-1 protein is targeted for proteolysis by the ubiquitin-dependent proteasome pathway.