title: An upstream repressor element that contributes to hepatocyte-specific expression of the rat serum amyloid A1 gene.
abstract: Serum amyloid A (SAA) is a major acute-phase protein whose expression can be dramatically induced in response to tissue damage, infection, and inflammation. Its expression is highly tissue-specific, restricted almost exclusively to liver hepatocytes. We have shown that a 320-bp fragment of the rat SAA1 promoter could confer liver-cell-specific expression on a reporter gene when transfected into cultured cells. Here we report the identification of a 29-bp regulatory element that possesses inhibitory activities on SAA1 promoter in HeLa cells but has no such effects in liver cells. Moreover, this regulatory element has properties of a transcriptional repressor; in that, it can function with a heterologous promoter and is independent of orientation and distance from the transcription initiation site. Protein binding studies showed that this regulatory element can form specific protein-DNA complexes with nuclear proteins from several nonliver cell lines (HeLa, 10T(1/2), and C2) and placenta. However, the same DNA-protein complex was not detected in extracts from liver or liver-derived cell lines (HepG2 and Hep3B). Taken together, our results demonstrate the presence of a DNA-binding protein, termed tissue-specific repressor, found only in nonhepatocytes which may function to repress SAA1 gene expression by interacting with a repressor element. Thus, liver-specific expression of the SAA1 gene is apparently regulated by both positive and negative regulatory elements and their interacting transcription factors to ensure that it is expressed only in suitable cell types.
authors.affiliation: Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, 1515 Holcombe Boulevard, Houston, Texas, 77030, USA.
authors.forename: L
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Li
authors.forename: W S
authors.initials: WS
authors.lastname: Liao
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D054756:Cyclic AMP-Dependent Protein Kinase RIalpha Subunit; D017868:Cyclic AMP-Dependent Protein Kinases; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation; D006367:HeLa Cells; D006801:Humans; D008099:Liver / Q000378:metabolism*; D010957:Plasmids; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic; D011506:Proteins / Q000235:genetics*; D051381:Rats; D000685:Serum Amyloid A Protein / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000235:genetics*; D014158:Transcription, Genetic; D014162:Transfection; D014407:Tumor Cells, Cultured
chemical_list: D054756:Cyclic AMP-Dependent Protein Kinase RIalpha Subunit; C517834:PRKAR1A protein, human; C517836:Prkar1a protein, rat; D011506:Proteins; D000685:Serum Amyloid A Protein; D017868:Cyclic AMP-Dependent Protein Kinases