Abstract approved

Bcl11b (B-cell lymphoma/leukemia 11b), also known as Ctip2 (Chicken ovalbumin upstream promoter transcription factor (COUP-TF)-interacting protein 2), is a C2H2 zinc finger transcriptional regulatory protein, which is an essential protein for post-natal life in the mouse and plays crucial roles in the development, and presumably function, of several organ systems, including the central nervous, immune, craniofacial formation and cutaneous/skin systems. Moreover, inactivation of Bcl11b has been implicated in the etiology of lymphoid malignancies, suggesting that Bcl11b may function as a tumor suppressor. Bcl11b was originally identified as a protein that interacted directly with the orphan nuclear receptor COUP-TF2. Later studies revealed that this C2H2 zinc finger protein can bind DNA directly in a COUP-independent manner, and it has been studied mostly as a transcription repressor. In T cells, gene repression mediated by Bcl11b involves the recruitment of class I HDACs, HDAC1 and HDAC2, within the context of the N