Characterization of alpha-enolase as an interferon-alpha 2 alpha 1 regulated gene

Interferons (IFNs) are multifunctional cytokines that after binding to the cell surface receptor induce the expression of a large number of genes, which in turn, mediate many biological processes including host defense, cell growth control, signaling, and metabolism. Here we show that IFN-alpha activates the mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPK) ERK1/2 and the transcription factor CREB/ATF-1, which lead to the alpha-enolase (alpha-ENO) gene expression in fibroblasts. Alpha-ENO mRNA accumulation was apparent 6 h post-IFN stimulation and required both de novo protein synthesis and active gene transcription, which is typical of a secondary response gene. Alpha-ENO expression does not appear to be restricted to fibroblasts, since it was equally verified in peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC). Furthermore, IFN-alpha stimulates the expression of the primary response genes c-fos and egr-1, which was followed by an increase in DNA binding activity of c-FOS and EGR-1 proteins, as verified by shift assays using the cis-acting elements AP-1 and EGR-1 localized at the alpha-ENO promoter. Finally, we also demonstrated that IFN treatment of PBMC cause an increase in both, alpha-ENO expression on the cell surface and plasmin generation followed addition of exogenous plasminogen.