Two questions to be addressed in this application are: how are class II genes controlled in the developing fetus and what happens when class II genes are expressed at different times during gestation? Experiments are designed to 1) determine the molecular mechanism of regulation by examining class II specific transcription factors and promoter occupancy in fetal tissues, 2) identify cytokines that regulate class II expression on fetal tissues, 3) determine the effects of fetal or maternal class II expression during gestation by creating transgenic mice that will carry an inducible global regulator of class II gene expression.
| Morris, Ann C; Beresford, Guy W; Mooney, Myesha R et al. (2002) Kinetics of a gamma interferon response: expression and assembly of CIITA promoter IV and inhibition by methylation. Mol Cell Biol 22:4781-91 |
| Morris, A C; Spangler, W E; Boss, J M (2000) Methylation of class II trans-activator promoter IV: a novel mechanism of MHC class II gene control. J Immunol 164:4143-9 |
| Boss, J M (1999) A common set of factors control the expression of the MHC class II, invariant chain, and HLA-DM genes. Microbes Infect 1:847-53 |
| DeSandro, A; Nagarajan, U M; Boss, J M (1999) The bare lymphocyte syndrome: molecular clues to the transcriptional regulation of major histocompatibility complex class II genes. Am J Hum Genet 65:279-86 |
| Morris, A C; Riley, J L; Fleming, W H et al. (1998) MHC class II gene silencing in trophoblast cells is caused by inhibition of CIITA expression. Am J Reprod Immunol 40:385-94 |
