CEBPdriven

CEBPdriven refers to cellular transcriptional programs and states that are predominantly regulated by CCAAT/enhancer-binding protein (CEBP) transcription factors. The CEBP family comprises several basic leucine zipper (bZIP) proteins, including C/EBP alpha, beta, gamma, delta, and others such as epsilon and zeta. These factors bind DNA at CCAAT/enhancer motifs, often functioning as homo- or heterodimers, and regulate gene expression in response to hormonal, metabolic, and inflammatory signals. CEBPdriven programs are thus central to decisions in differentiation, metabolism, immune function, and stress responses.

In adipogenesis, C/EBP beta is expressed early and cooperates with C/EBP alpha and PPAR gamma to activate adipocyte gene expression, making adipogenic programs often described as CEBPdriven. In hematopoietic and myeloid lineages, C/EBP alpha is essential for granulocytic differentiation, while C/EBP beta contributes to inflammatory gene regulation. In the liver, C/EBP alpha regulates gluconeogenic and metabolic genes, supporting hepatocyte function. Across tissues, CEBP-driven regulation is shaped by isoform expression (for example, LAP and LIP variants of C/EBP beta), post-translational modifications, and interactions with co-regulators and signaling pathways.

Clinical and research relevance includes links between dysregulated CEBP activity and metabolic diseases (such as obesity and diabetes), liver dysfunction, and hematologic disorders; in cancer, CEBP proteins can act as tumor suppressors or context-dependent oncogenes. The term CEBPdriven is commonly used to describe transcriptional programs identified in gene-expression analyses, differentiation studies, and systems biology models where C/EBP factors are the dominant regulatory drivers.