title: Positive and negative regulation of the rat vasopressin gene promoter.
abstract: To study the transcriptional regulation of the vasopressin gene in vitro, 3 kb of the 5' regulatory region of the rat vasopressin gene was isolated and subcloned, along with a series of various deletion mutants, into vectors containing the luciferase reporter gene. After transfecting these genes transiently into the human choriocarcinoma cell line JEG-3 along with a glucocorticoid receptor (GR) expression vector, transcriptional activity was quantitated using the luciferase assay. Forskolin, 8-bromo-cAMP, and protein kinase A catalytic subunit expression all markedly increased transcription from the 3-kb promoter. Analyses with deletion mutants of the promoter showed that two cAMP-responsive element (CRE)-like sequences (-227 to -220 bp and -123 to -116 bp) contribute to this positive regulation. Expression of KCREB, a dominant negative mutant of the cAMP-responsive element binding protein (CREB), suggested the involvement of CREB. Transfection of the activator protein 2 (AP2) DNA consensus sequence partially blocked transcription. Dexamethasone suppressed forskolin-stimulated expression. The negative effect of glucocorticoid was GR dependent and may be mediated by a mechanism not involving GR binding to DNA because it was independent of the putative glucocorticoid-responsive element previously reported in the vasopressin promoter (-622 to -608 bp) and was preserved in the shorter promoter constructs in which no glucocorticoid-responsive element-like sequence was found. Our data suggest that several trans-acting factors including CREB, AP2, and GR are likely to be involved in vasopressin gene transcription and that the positive and negative regulation of vasopressin gene transcription is complex.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Children's Hospital, Harvard Medical School, Boston, Massachusetts 02115, USA.
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Iwasaki
authors.forename: Y
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Oiso
authors.forename: H
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Saito
authors.forename: J A
authors.initials: JA
authors.lastname: Majzoub
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D005576:Colforsin / Q000494:pharmacology; D017362:Cyclic AMP Response Element-Binding Protein / Q000235:genetics / Q000494:pharmacology; D017868:Cyclic AMP-Dependent Protein Kinases / Q000378:metabolism; D003907:Dexamethasone / Q000494:pharmacology; D017353:Gene Deletion; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation / Q000502:physiology; D005938:Glucocorticoids / Q000494:pharmacology; D006801:Humans; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic / Q000187:drug effects / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D011493:Protein Kinase C / Q000378:metabolism; D051381:Rats; D014407:Tumor Cells, Cultured; D014667:Vasopressins / Q000235:genetics*
chemical_list: D017362:Cyclic AMP Response Element-Binding Protein; D005938:Glucocorticoids; D014667:Vasopressins; D005576:Colforsin; D003907:Dexamethasone; D017868:Cyclic AMP-Dependent Protein Kinases; D011493:Protein Kinase C