title: Characterization of the CD11a (alpha L, LFA-1 alpha) integrin gene promoter.
abstract: Human lymphocyte function-associated antigen-1 (LFA-1, CD11a/CD18, alpha L/beta 2) is a cell surface heterodimer, which, together with Mac-1 (CD11b/CD18, alpha M/beta 2) and p150,95 (CD11c/CD18, alpha X/beta 2), constitutes the leukocyte integrin beta 2 (CD18) subfamily. LFA-1 is the only integrin expressed on all leukocyte lineages and functions both as a key adhesion receptor in immune and inflammatory processes and as a signal-transducing molecule. To elucidate the molecular basis for the leukocyte-restricted expression of LFA-1, the promoter region of the CD11a gene has been isolated and functionally characterized. The 5' region of the CD11a gene exhibits a similar exon/intron organization as the CD11b, CD11c, and VLA-2 alpha genes but is different from that of the genes encoding VLA-4 alpha, VLA-5 alpha, and gpIIb. Several tightly clustered transcription initiation sites have been identified on the CD11a gene, with the major site resembling the "initiator" sequence. Transient expression of CD11a promoter-based reporter gene constructs in both LFA1+ and LFA1- cell lines demonstrated that the fragment spanning from -880 to +83 is involved in the tissue-specific expression of LFA-1. Functional analysis of different fragments within the -880/+83 fragment suggested the presence of negative regulatory elements between -880 and -226 and demonstrated that the proximal region of the CD11a gene promoter exhibits tissue-specific activity.
authors.affiliation: Unidad de Biología Molecular, Hospital de la Princesa, Madrid, Spain.
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Nueda
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: López-Cabrera
authors.forename: A
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Vara
authors.forename: A L
authors.initials: AL
authors.lastname: Corbí
mesh_terms: D000595:Amino Acid Sequence; D015703:Antigens, CD / Q000235:genetics*; D001483:Base Sequence; D018845:CD11 Antigens; D018821:CD18 Antigens; D002885:Chromosomes, Human, Pair 16; D003001:Cloning, Molecular; D004273:DNA, Neoplasm / Q000235:genetics / Q000302:isolation & purification; D015698:Genomic Library; D006801:Humans; D007938:Leukemia; D016169:Lymphocyte Function-Associated Antigen-1 / Q000235:genetics*; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010957:Plasmids; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic; D015183:Restriction Mapping; D012689:Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid; D014162:Transfection; D014407:Tumor Cells, Cultured
chemical_list: D015703:Antigens, CD; D018845:CD11 Antigens; D018821:CD18 Antigens; D004273:DNA, Neoplasm; D016169:Lymphocyte Function-Associated Antigen-1