title: Estrogen stimulates transcription from the human prolactin distal promoter through AP1 and estrogen responsive elements in T47D human breast cancer cells.
abstract: Human prolactin (hPRL) is a pleiotropic and versatile hormone that exercises more than 300 biological activities through binding to its cognate receptors. Recently, multiple studies have implicated hPRL in the development of human breast cancer. As a target of hPRL, both normal and neoplastic human breast cells also synthesize and secrete hPRL, which therefore establishes an autocrine/paracrine action loop in the mammary gland. In contrast to the extensive studies of regulation of hPRL expression in the pituitary gland, regulation of hPRL in mammary tissue and human breast cancer cells has not been extensively addressed. Extrapituitary PRL expression is primarily regulated by a distal promoter located 5.8 kb upstream to the pituitary promoter. As a result of alternative promoter usage, extrapituitary PRL is regulated by different signalling pathways and different hormones, cytokines or neuropeptides compared to regulation in the pituitary. Here, we present evidence that shows estrogen directly induces hPRL gene expression in T47D human breast cancer cells. We have identified a functional, non-canonical estrogen responsive element (ERE) and an AP1 site located in the hPRL distal promoter. Gel shift and chromatin immunoprecipitation assays demonstrated that both estrogen receptor (ER)alpha and ERbeta directly bind to the ERE. However, only ERalpha interacts with AP1 proteins that bind to the AP1 site in the hPRL distal promoter. Promoter-reporter gene studies demonstrate that both ERE and AP1 sites are required for full induction of the promoter activity by estradiol. Our studies suggest that the interactions between estrogens, ERs, the ERE and AP1 transcription factors in regulation of autocrine/paracrine PRL in the human breast may be critical for oncogenesis and may contribute to progression of breast cancer.
authors.affiliation: Mammary Biology and Tumorigenesis Laboratory, Center for Cancer Research, National Cancer Institute, National Institutes of Health, Bethesda, MD 20892-4254, USA.
authors.forename: Renqin
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Duan
authors.forename: Erika
authors.initials: E
authors.lastname: Ginsburg
authors.forename: Barbara K
authors.initials: BK
authors.lastname: Vonderhaar
mesh_terms: D001483:Base Sequence; D001665:Binding Sites; D001943:Breast Neoplasms / Q000235:genetics*; D018450:Disease Progression; D004967:Estrogens / Q000494:pharmacology*; D015972:Gene Expression Regulation, Neoplastic / Q000187:drug effects; D006801:Humans; D011388:Prolactin / Q000235:genetics*; D011401:Promoter Regions, Genetic / Q000187:drug effects; D011485:Protein Binding; D011960:Receptors, Estrogen / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology; D020218:Response Elements / Q000502:physiology*; D018808:Transcription Factor AP-1 / Q000378:metabolism / Q000502:physiology*; D014158:Transcription, Genetic / Q000187:drug effects; D015533:Transcriptional Activation / Q000187:drug effects; D014407:Tumor Cells, Cultured
chemical_list: D004967:Estrogens; D011960:Receptors, Estrogen; D018808:Transcription Factor AP-1; D011388:Prolactin