Abstract IA16: Transcriptional regulation by physiological and oncogenic Myc levels

Myc proteins bind globally to open promoters of all three RNA polymerases and in some instances globally enhance transcription. Surprisingly, Myc-driven tumor cells are characterized by specific gene expression profiles, which are defined by both activation and repression of specific target genes and which hold considerable prognostic value and biological information about tumor physiology. One mechanism that contributes to this specificity is promoter affinity and functionally distinct classes of Myc target genes vary widely in their apparent affinity to Myc. As a result, physiological and supraphysiological/oncogenic levels of Myc regulate different gene expression programs. Furthermore, oncogenic levels of Myc engage the zinc finger protein, Miz1, to repress transcription and I will briefly review what we know about the mechanism of repression. I will discuss two examples how different levels of Myc sensitize cells towards apoptosis and regulate the self-renewing potential of adult stem cells. Citation Format: Bjoern von Eyss, Elmar Wolf, Katrin Wiese, Martin Eilers. Transcriptional regulation by physiological and oncogenic Myc levels. [abstract]. In: Proceedings of the AACR Special Conference on Myc: From Biology to Therapy; Jan 7-10, 2015; La Jolla, CA. Philadelphia (PA): AACR; Mol Cancer Res 2015;13(10 Suppl):Abstract nr IA16.