title: Hepatocyte nuclear factor-4 controls transcription from a TATA-less human sex hormone-binding globulin gene promoter.
abstract: Hepatocytes are the major source of sex hormone-binding globulin (SHBG), a glycoprotein that transports sex steroids in the blood and regulates their access to target tissues. The human SHBG proximal promoter was analyzed by DNase I footprinting, and the functional significance of 6 footprinted regions (FP1-FP6) within the proximal promoter was studied in human HepG2 hepatoblastoma cells. Two footprinted regions (FP1 and FP3) contain binding sites for the chicken ovalbumin upstream promoter-transcription factor (COUP-TF) and hepatocyte nuclear factor-4 (HNF-4). In experiments where SHBG promoter-luciferase reporter gene constructs were co-transfected into HepG2 cells with COUP-TF and/or HNF-4 expression vectors, HNF-4 markedly increased transcription, whereas COUP-TF suppressed this probably by displacing HNF-4 from their common FP1-binding site. This COUP-TF/HNF-4-binding site within FP1 includes a TTTAA sequence, located at nucleotides -30/-26 upstream of the transcription start site, which fails to interact with human TFIID, TATA-binding protein in vitro. When this sequence was replaced with an idealized HNF-4-binding site, the transcriptional activity of the promoter increased in HepG2 cells. Taken together, these data imply that an interplay between COUP-TF and HNF-4 at a site within FP1 regulates human SHBG expression and that HNF-4 controls transcription from this TATA-less promoter by somehow substituting for TATA-binding protein in the recruitment of a transcription preinitiation complex.
authors.affiliation: Department of Obstetrics & Gynecology, and Medical Research Council of Canada Group in Fetal and Neonatal Health and Development, University of Western Ontario, Canada.
authors.forename: M
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Jänne
authors.forename: G L
authors.initials: GL
authors.lastname: Hammond
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D051778:Basic Helix-Loop-Helix Leucine Zipper Transcription Factors; D006528:Carcinoma, Hepatocellular; D016887:Cardiopulmonary Resuscitation; D018983:DNA Footprinting; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins / Q000378:metabolism; D003850:Deoxyribonuclease I; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D017930:Genes, Reporter; D051557:Hepatocyte Nuclear Factor 4; D006801:Humans; D008113:Liver Neoplasms; D008156:Luciferases / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000235:genetics; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D016297:Mutagenesis, Site-Directed; D010750:Phosphoproteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic; D051381:Rats; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins / Q000096:biosynthesis; D016415:Sequence Alignment; D017384:Sequence Deletion; D012689:Sequence Homology, Nucleic Acid; D012738:Sex Hormone-Binding Globulin / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000235:genetics*; D016385:TATA Box; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000378:metabolism*; D014158:Transcription, Genetic; D014407:Tumor Cells, Cultured
chemical_list: D051778:Basic Helix-Loop-Helix Leucine Zipper Transcription Factors; D004268:DNA-Binding Proteins; D051557:Hepatocyte Nuclear Factor 4; C403128:MLX protein, human; D010750:Phosphoproteins; D011993:Recombinant Fusion Proteins; D012738:Sex Hormone-Binding Globulin; D014157:Transcription Factors; D008156:Luciferases; D003850:Deoxyribonuclease I