SYT, a partner of SYT-SSX oncoprotein in synovial sarcomas, interacts with mSin3A, a component of histone deacetylase complex

Synovial sarcomas are soft-tissue tumors predominantly affecting children and young adults. They are molecular-genetically characterized by the SYT-SSX fusion gene generated from chromosomal translocation t(X; 18) (p11-2; q11.2). When we screened new gene products that interact with SYT or SSX proteins by yeast two-hybrid assay, we found that mSin3A, a component of the histone deacetylase complex, interacts with SYT but not with SSX. These results were confirmed by mammalian two-hybrid and pull-down assays. Analyses with sequential truncated proteins revealed a main mSin3A-interaction region on the SYT amino-terminal 93 amino acids, and another one on the region between 187th amino acid and break point. In luciferase assay, mSin3A repressed the transcriptional activity of reporter promoter mediated by SYT and hBRM/BRG1. Our results suggest that the histone deacetylase complex containing mSin3A may regulate the transcriptional activation mediated by SYT.