Functional roles for the striatal-enriched transcription factor, Bcl11b, in the control of striatal gene expression and transcriptional dysregulation in Huntington's disease.

Transcriptional dysregulation has emerged as a central pathogenic mechanism in Huntington's disease (HD), which is associated with neuropathological changes predominantly in the striatum. Here we demonstrate that expression of Bcl11b (a.k.a. CTIP2), a transcription factor exhibiting highly-enriched localization in adult striatum, is significantly decreased in HD cells, mouse models and human subjects and that overexpression of Bcl11b attenuates toxic effects of mutant huntingtin in cultured striatal neurons. We show that Bcl11b directly activates the proximal promoter regions of striatal-enriched genes and can increase mRNA levels of striatal-expressing genes. We further demonstrate an interaction between Bcl11b and huntingtin protein in cultured cells and brain homogenates from HD R6/1 and YAC72 transgenic mice. We propose that sequestration and/or decreased expression of Bcl11b in HD is responsible, at least in part, for the dysregulation of striatal gene expression observed in HD and may contribute to the specificity of pathology observed in this disease.