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Myeloid differentiation is a highly regulated process governed by various cytokines, such as EPO, TPO, G-CSF, IL-3, IL-5 and GM-CSF. These cytokines act in part through activation of the STAT transcription factor family. In particular, various isoforms of STAT3 and STAT5 are activated during myeloid differentiation in a cell-type and maturation-state dependent fashion. In vitro studies have shown that STAT proteins are essential for cytokine-regulated processes such as cellular proliferation, differentiation as well as survival. Similarly, various STAT knock-outs have highlighted the role of STATs in myeloid differentiation in vivo. STATs also appear to play an important role in various myeloid malignancies, which are characterized by arrested maturation and cytokine-independent proliferation of myeloid progenitors. Constitutive activation of STAT3 and/or STAT5 resulting in enhanced transcription of anti-apoptotic- cell-cycle progression genes is likely to contribute to the pathogenesis of various myeloid leukemia's. Oncogene (2000) 19, 2511–2522 [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

The binding of insulin to its receptor initiates multiple signal transduction pathways regulating such diverse processes as proliferation, differentiation, glucose transport, and glycogen metabolism. The STAT-family of transcription factors has been demonstrated to play a critical role in gene induction by a variety of hemopoietic cytokines and hormones. Furthermore, constitutive activation of STATs is observed in transformed cells. Here we describe activation of a transcriptional complex binding to a consensus STAT-transcriptional element in response to insulin challenge. This complex is induced rapidly after tyrosine autophosphorylation of the insulin receptor, and is sustained for several hours. Supershift analysis of the insulin-induced complex reveals that it specifically contains the transcription factor Stat3. DAN binding of this complex is inhibited by pre-incubation with tyrosine, but not serine/threonine protein kinase inhibitors, whereas transcriptional activation is inhibited by both. Utilising a dominant negative mutant of p21ras we demonstrate that both insulin-induced Stat3 DNA-binding and also transactivation do not require p21ras. Furthermore, although previous studies have suggested a role for MAP kinases (ERKs) and PI-3K in STAT activation, utilising the specific MEK inhibitor PD098059 and the PI-3K inhibitor wortmannin, we demonstrate that activation of ERKs or PI-3K are not required for insulin induced Stat3 phosphorylation or transactivation. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]