title: Modulation of human estrogen receptor alpha F promoter by a protein kinase C/c-Src-dependent mechanism in osteoblast-like cells.
abstract: The human estrogen receptor alpha (ERalpha) gene is driven by multiple promoters, of which the F promoter alone is found to be active in primary osteoblasts. The study was aimed at identifying new regulatory pathways affecting transcription of the receptor in this cell lineage. We generated human osteoblast-like cells, Saos-2, stably transfected with a luciferase-reporter gene downstream of the human ERalpha F promoter (Saos F-Luc), and assayed the reporter response to differentiation-related signals. Over-confluence, shown to stimulate osteoblast differentiation, caused a time-dependent increase of F-promoter activity and correlated with an inactivation of protein kinase C alpha (PKCalpha ). PKC downregulation, obtained by long-term treatment with phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (PMA), resulted in promoter stimulation at similar levels in sub-confluent cells. The F promoter contains a putative PMA-responsive AP-1 site, but AP-1 activation was unremarkable in over-confluent cells. Treatment with PP1, a specific inhibitor of the non-receptor tyrosine-kinase c-Src, which is a negative regulator of osteoblast differentiation, showed that the activity of this kinase inhibits the F promoter. In PP1-treated cells, F-promoter activity was not further increased by PMA. Treatment with the generic kinase inhibitor 4-dimethylaminopyridine (DMAP) resulted in a dose-dependent induction of the promoter, which matched a parallel decrease of active c-Src. The effect was c-Src dependent, as DMAP caused no further promoter induction in PP1-treated cells. Overexpression of exogenous human ERalpha resulted in modest promoter stimulation, which required the ligand-independent activator function 1 of the receptor. In murine primary osteoblasts, additional ERalpha signal was observed upon induction of F promoter. In conclusion, we demonstrated a robust PKC/c-Src-dependent and estrogen-independent mechanism modulating transcription of ERalpha in osteoblasts, probably affecting estrogen responsiveness during cell differentiation.
authors.affiliation: Department of Experimental Medicine, University of L'Aquila, via Vetoio Coppito 2, 67100 L'Aquila, Italy.
authors.forename: Maurizio
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Longo
authors.forename: Barbara
authors.initials: B
authors.lastname: Peruzzi
authors.forename: Dario
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Fortunati
authors.forename: Veronica
authors.initials: V
authors.lastname: De Luca
authors.forename: Stefanie
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Denger
authors.forename: Gianfranco
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Caselli
authors.forename: Silvia
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Migliaccio
authors.forename: Anna
authors.initials: A
authors.lastname: Teti
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D015415:Biomarkers; D002454:Cell Differentiation; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D050659:Core Binding Factor Alpha 1 Subunit / Q000378:metabolism; D004789:Enzyme Activation; D047628:Estrogen Receptor alpha / Q000235:genetics*; D006801:Humans; D051379:Mice; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D010006:Osteoblasts / Q000166:cytology / Q000378:metabolism*; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic / Q000235:genetics*; D011493:Protein Kinase C / Q000378:metabolism*; D016392:Proto-Oncogene Proteins pp60(c-src) / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors / Q000378:metabolism*; D015398:Signal Transduction; D018808:Transcription Factor AP-1 / Q000378:metabolism; D015854:Up-Regulation
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D050659:Core Binding Factor Alpha 1 Subunit; D047628:Estrogen Receptor alpha; D018808:Transcription Factor AP-1; D016392:Proto-Oncogene Proteins pp60(c-src); D011493:Protein Kinase C