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Volume 271,
Number 2,
Issue of January 12, 1996 pp. 1054-1060
©1996 by The American Society for Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, Inc.
Sp1-mediated
Transcriptional Activation of the Human Pi Class Glutathione S-Transferase Promoter (*)
(Received for publication, August 15, 1995)
Graeme J.
Moffat (§),
,
Aileen W.
McLaren
,
C. Roland
Wolf
(¶)
From the Imperial Cancer Research Fund Molecular Pharmacology
Unit, Biomedical Research Centre, Ninewells Hospital and Medical
School, Dundee DD1 9SY, Scotland
ABSTRACT
INTRODUCTION
EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURES
RESULTS
DISCUSSION
FOOTNOTES
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
REFERENCES
ABSTRACT
Previous studies in this laboratory have identified an essential
AP-1 recognition sequence (C1 region; -69 to -63) in the
human Pi class glutathione S-transferase (GSTP1)
promoter and a negatively acting regulatory element (-105 to
-86) that acts to suppress GSTP1 transcription in the
human mammary carcinoma cell line, MCF7(1) . The data presented
here further delineate the functional characteristics of the GSTP1 promoter by examining the significance of two potential binding
sites for the transcription factor, Sp1 (-57 to -49 and
-47 to -39). The introduction of mutations within these
Sp1-like elements and the use of Sp1 antisera in electrophoretic
mobility shift assays demonstrated that Sp1 was bound to this region of
the GSTP1 promoter in three different cell lines, MCF7,
VCREMS, and EJ. Moreover, these in vitro studies indicated
that only one of the two putative Sp1 response elements was utilized.
Transient transfection assays using GSTP1 promoter constructs
that incorporated mutations of the Sp1 elements clearly demonstrated
that binding of Sp1 to the GSTP1 promoter was absolutely
required for optimal levels of GSTP1 transcription. In
particular, disruption of the distal Sp1 recognition motif (-57
to -49) markedly reduced GSTP1 promoter activity in each
cell line, thus indicating preferential binding of Sp1 to the distal
site. However, insertion of the repressor binding site (-105 to
-86) into these constructs suggested that Sp1 was not involved in
mediating the suppressive effects of the GSTP1 transcriptional
repressor in MCF7 cells, because inhibition of Sp1 binding did not
alleviate repressor activity. Therefore, these studies provide strong
evidence that Sp1 plays a central role in regulating basal levels of GSTP1 transcription.
INTRODUCTION
Glutathione S-transferases (GSTs) ( )are an
important family of enzymes primarily responsible for the
detoxification of a large number of electrophilic xenobiotics by
catalyzing the nucleophilic conjugation of these compounds with
glutathione. There are five mammalian subclasses of GSTs, namely Alpha,
Pi, Mu, Theta, and microsomal, with different classifications of
substrate specificity(2, 3) . Overexpression of the
Pi class of GST enzymes has been associated with tumor development and
carcinogenesis(4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9) and in the
acquisition of antineoplastic drug
resistance(10, 11, 12, 13) .
Therefore, understanding the transcriptional regulatory mechanisms of
this particular gene family has stimulated much research activity. In this regard, functional studies of the rat GSTP promoter
have identified several regulatory elements that are important for
basal and inducible
expression(14, 15, 16, 17, 18) .
Moreover, preliminary analysis of the human GSTP1 promoter had
identified a putative AP-1 response
element(19, 20, 21, 22, 23) . Recent studies in this laboratory have established that the AP-1
recognition sequence is absolutely required for transcriptional
activity of the GSTP1 promoter(1) . The transcription
factor AP-1 is comprised of members of the Jun (c-Jun, JunB, and JunD)
and Fos (c-Fos, FosB, Fra1, and Fra2) protein
families(24, 25) . We have demonstrated that a Jun-Fos
heterodimer is an integral component of the nuclear complex bound to
this essential GSTP1 promoter element in a multidrug-resistant
derivative (VCREMS) of the human mammary carcinoma cell line, MCF7. In
addition, we have identified a negative regulatory element (-105
to -86) that acts to suppress GSTP1 transcription in
MCF7 cells(1) . Analysis of the GSTP1 proximal
promoter revealed the presence of two putative Sp1 binding sites
(-57 to -49 and -47 to -39) located downstream
of the AP-1 response element. The transcription factor Sp1 was first
identified as a regulatory protein that bound multiple GC-rich boxes in
the 21-bp repeat elements of the SV40 early
promoter(26, 27, 28, 29, 30) .
Since this initial observation, Sp1 has been shown to regulate the
activity of a large number of viral and cellular promoters. The DNA
binding domain of Sp1 consists of three zinc finger motifs (31) and recognizes the 9-bp sequence GGGGCGGGG, in which each
triplet is thought to be contacted by one of the three zinc
fingers(32, 33, 34, 35) . These
present studies examine the ability of these potential Sp1 response
elements in the GSTP1 promoter to bind Sp1 in vitro.
In addition, the functional significance of these DNA-protein
interactions in regulating GSTP1 promoter activity is
addressed. Finally, we investigate the involvement of Sp1 in mediating
the suppressive effects of the GSTP1 transcriptional repressor
in MCF7 cells.
EXPERIMENTAL PROCEDURES
Cell CultureThe VCREMS cell line (a
generous gift from Dr. Bridget Hill) was derived by selecting the human
mammary carcinoma cell line, MCF7, for resistance to
vincristine(36) . VCREMS, MCF7, the human bladder carcinoma
cell line, EJ, HepG2, and HeLa cells were cultured in Dulbecco's
modified Eagle's medium containing 10% fetal bovine serum and
supplemented with L-glutamine and penicillin/streptomycin
mixture (Life Technologies, Inc., Paisley, Scotland).
Northern AnalysisTotal cellular RNA was
isolated from MCF7, VCREMS, EJ, HepG2, and HeLa cells using the
procedure described by Chomczynski and Sacchi(37) . RNA (10
µg/lane) was electrophoretically fractionated and transferred to
Hybond-N nylon membrane (Amersham International, Amersham, UK). A
full-length (800 bp, EcoRI-digested) GSTP1 cDNA
fragment (38) was labeled by the random priming method (39) and used to determine the relative levels of GSTP1 mRNA in each cell line. Northern blots were washed to high
stringency: 0.1 SSC containing 0.1% SDS at 65 °C for 30
min. Autoradiography was performed using X-Omat AR film (Eastman Kodak)
and two intensifying screens at -70 °C.
Electrophoretic Mobility Shift
AssayNuclear extracts from MCF7, VCREMS, and EJ cells were
prepared using the method described by Dignam et
al.(40) . Electrophoretic mobility shift assays were
performed as described previously(1) . Briefly, 10 µg of
MCF7, VCREMS, or EJ nuclear extract was incubated for 20 min at room
temperature with 2 ng of [ - P]ATP
end-labeled DNA fragment in a 20-µl reaction mixture containing 12
mM HEPES, pH 7.9, 12% glycerol, 60 mM KCl, 0.12
mM EDTA, 1 mM dithiothreitol, and 2 µg of
poly(dI-dC). Each reaction mixture was then loaded onto a prerun (200 V
for 2 h at 4 °C) 4% polyacrylamide gel (30:1 cross-linking ratio)
containing 0.3 TBE. Electrophoresis was performed at 200 V for
2 h at 4 °C, and the gel was then dried and autoradiographed.In
competition experiments, the reaction mixture was preincubated for 20
min at room temperature with 100-fold molar excess of unlabeled DNA (or
3 µl of polyclonal anti-human Sp1 antisera; a generous gift from
Dr. Stephen Jackson) before the addition of radiolabeled probe. The
following oligonucleotides and their complementary sequences were used
as probes and competitors: the GSTP1 promoter fragment
-61 to -32, 5`-CACTGGGGCGGAGCGGGGCGGGACCACCCT-3`;
5`-CACTGTCAAGGAGCGGGGCGGGACCACCCT-3` (M1);
5`-CACTGGGGCGGAGCGTCAAGGGACCACCCT-3` (M2); 5`-CACTG TCAAGGAGCG TCAAGGGACCACCCT-3` (M3); the GSTP1 promoter fragment
-53 to -32, 5`-CGGAGCGGGGCGGGACCACCCT-3` and the Sp1
consensus sequence 5`-ATTCGATCGGGGCGGGGCGAGC-3` from the SV40 early
promoter (32) and the AP-1 binding site from the human
collagenase promoter, 5`-AGCTTGATGAGTCAGCCG-3`(41) .
Promoter Deletion ConstructsThe GSTP1 promoter deletion constructs p105CAT, p73CAT, and p65CAT
were prepared as described previously (1) by ligating deletion
fragments of the GSTP1 promoter (-105 to +36,
-73 to +36, and -65 to +36 with HindIII
and SalI linkers) into the HindIII/SalI-digested pCAT.Basic vector (Promega,
Southampton, UK).Using p73CAT as a template, mutated GSTP1 promoter fragments were generated by PCR using the following
upstream primers (with HindIII linkers) to prepare
p73Sp1M1CAT, p73Sp1M2CAT, and p73Sp1M3CAT:
5`-GCCGTGACTCAGCACTGTCAAGGAGCGGGGCGGGACCACCCT-3` (p73Sp1M1CAT),
5`-GCCGTGACTCAGCACTGGGGCGGAGCGTCAAGGGACCACCCT-3` (p73Sp1M2CAT), and
5`-GCCGTGACTCAGCACTGTCAAGGAGCGTCAAGGGACCACCCT-3` (p73Sp1M3CAT). Using p73Sp1M1CAT, p73Sp1M2CAT, or p73Sp1M3CAT as a template, an
oligonucleotide representing the GSTP1 promoter region
-105 to -59, was used as an upstream primer (with HindIII linker) in PCR to generate the three mutated GSTP1 promoter fragments used to prepare p105Sp1M1CAT, p105Sp1M2CAT, and
p105Sp1M3CAT: 5`-AGTCCGCGGGACCCTCCAGAAGAGCGGCCGGCGCCGTGACTCAGCAC-3`. The downstream primer (nucleotides +17 to +36 with SalI linker) used in PCR to generate the six mutated fragments
for preparation of the three p73CAT and three p105CAT mutant constructs
was 5`-ACTCACTGGTGGCGAAGACT-3`. Following preparation, all
constructs were sequenced by the dideoxy chain termination
method(42) .
Transient Transfection AssaysDNA
transfections were performed by the calcium phosphate method (43) as described by Gorman (44) with the exception
that glycerol was omitted. Cell extracts were assayed for protein
content(45) , and chloramphenicol acetyltransferase (CAT)
activity was determined as described previously (46) and
modified by Sambrook et al.(47) . In all experiments,
pCAT.Control (Promega), which contained the SV40 enhancer and promoter,
was used as a positive control, and the promoterless pCAT.Basic was
used as a negative control.
RESULTS
Cell-specific Expression of GSTP1
mRNATo examine the role of Sp1 in regulating activity of
the GSTP1 promoter in different cell types, we tested the
expression of GSTP1 mRNA in five cell lines, MCF7, VCREMS, EJ,
HepG2, and HeLa. Following this analysis, we chose to utilize MCF7,
VCREMS, and EJ cells, which exhibited widely varying endogenous levels
of GSTP1 mRNA (Fig. 1).
Figure 1:
Cell-specific expression of GSTP1 mRNA. The relative levels of GSTP1 mRNA in MCF7, VCREMS,
EJ, HeLa, and HepG2 cells were determined by Northern analysis (10
µg/lane) using a full-length human GSTP1 cDNA fragment as
a probe. The ethidium bromide-stained gel is shown to confirm equal
loading of RNA samples. kb, kilobase.
The cell line expressing the
highest amount of GSTP1 mRNA was the human bladder carcinoma
cell line, EJ. In addition, we also used the human mammary carcinoma
cell line, MCF7, in which GSTP1 mRNA was not detectable by
Northern analysis, and its multidrug-resistant derivative, VCREMS in
which substantial levels of GSTP1 mRNA were readily
measurable.
In Vitro Binding of Nuclear Proteins to the GSTP1
Promoter Fragment -61 to -32 in MCF7, VCREMS, and EJ
CellsAnalysis of the GSTP1 proximal promoter
region (-73 to -27) revealed three potentially important
features that are highlighted in Fig. 2, namely one putative
AP-1 binding site (-69 to -63) and two sequences homologous
to Sp1 recognition elements (-57 to -49 and -47 to
-39). Previous studies in this laboratory have demonstrated a
functional role for the AP-1 response element, which binds a Jun-Fos
heterodimer in VCREMS cells(1) . However, the importance of the
two putative Sp1 binding sites had not been investigated.
Figure 2:
Primary structure of the GSTP1 proximal promoter. The putative AP-1 (-69 to -63) and
Sp1 (-57 to -49 and -47 to -39) recognition
motifs are shaded.
The
ability of these potential recognition sequences in the GSTP1 promoter to bind Sp1 was assessed by electrophoretic mobility
shift assays. For these studies, four double stranded DNA probes
spanning the GSTP1 promoter region, -61 to -32,
were prepared (Fig. 3A). The wild-type sequence
(-61 to -32) contained both of the Sp1-like elements. M1
contained a 4-bp mutation in the distal site (-57 to -49),
whereas a 4-bp mutation was introduced into the proximal site
(-47 to -39) to generate M2. In addition, M3 contained 4-bp
mutations in both elements. The ability of each of these four GSTP1 promoter fragments to bind proteins in nuclear extracts prepared
from MCF7, VCREMS, and EJ cells was then tested.
Figure 3:
In vitro binding of nuclear
proteins to the GSTP1 promoter fragment -61 to
-32. A, mutational analysis of the two potential Sp1
binding sites located within the GSTP1 promoter. B,
electrophoretic mobility shift assays demonstrating the nuclear
complexes (10 µg of nuclear extract per reaction) in MCF7, VCREMS,
and EJ cells that bound the GSTP1 promoter fragment -61
to -32 and the mutated fragments M1, M2, and M3. C,
electrophoretic mobility shift assays demonstrating the nuclear
complexes (10 µg of nuclear extract per reaction) in MCF7, VCREMS,
and EJ cells bound to a single Sp1 binding site. The GSTP1 promoter fragment -53 to -32 and the Sp1 consensus
sequence from the SV40 early promoter were used as probes. WT,
wild type.
Fig. 3B shows that the wild-type sequence bound three major complexes.
Interestingly, both the mobility pattern and the relative intensity of
these bands were similar in each cell line. Despite the mutations
described above, M1 and M2 both gave the same result as the wild-type
sequence. This finding suggests that perhaps sequences flanking the Sp1
motifs were responsible for the observed band shift pattern or
alternatively that only one of the two Sp1 elements was occupied at one
time. The latter explanation seemed more likely because M3, which
contained specific mutations in both of the Sp1-like elements, failed
to bind any nuclear proteins. To further emphasize this possibility,
a GSTP1 promoter fragment spanning nucleotides -53 to
-32 and thus containing only the proximal Sp1 motif and a probe
containing a single Sp1 consensus sequence from the SV40 early
promoter, produced the same results as the wild-type sequence, which
contained two potential Sp1 binding elements (Fig. 3C).
DNA Binding Specificity of the Nuclear Complexes
Bound to the GSTP1 Promoter Fragment -61 to
-32To determine the binding specificity of these
nuclear proteins, the ability of M1, M2, and M3 to compete for the
three complexes bound to the wild-type sequence was assessed (Fig. 4). Consistent with results shown in Fig. 3B, a 100-fold molar excess of unlabeled M1 or M2
was able to efficiently compete for the nuclear proteins bound to the
wild-type sequence, whereas no competition was observed with excess
unlabeled M3.
Figure 4:
DNA binding specificity of the nuclear
complexes bound to the GSTP1 promoter fragment -61 to
-32. Double stranded oligonucleotides containing the mutated
fragments M1, M2, and M3 (see Fig. 3A) were used at
100-fold molar excess to compete for the nuclear complexes (10 µg
of nuclear extract per reaction) bound to the wild-type GSTP1 promoter fragment -61 to -32. Binding specificity was
confirmed using 100-fold molar excess of the Sp1 consensus sequence
from the SV40 early promoter as a positive control and the AP-1 binding
site from the human collagenase promoter as a negative control. WT, wild type.
Furthermore, efficient competition for the three
nuclear complexes was observed with the single Sp1 consensus sequence
from the SV40 early promoter but not with the nonspecific AP-1 binding
site from the human collagenase promoter. As shown for the experiments
presented in Fig. 3(B and C), identical
results were observed in all three cell lines.
Sp1 Polyclonal Antisera Inhibited Binding of Two of
the Nuclear Complexes Bound to the GSTP1 Promoter Element -61 to
-32Results presented above have demonstrated that
three major complexes were specifically bound to the GSTP1 promoter region -61 to -32. However, despite the
presence of two sequence motifs exhibiting strong homology with an Sp1
binding site, this data did not prove that Sp1 was represented by any
of these nuclear complexes.To clarify this matter, nuclear extracts
were incubated with a polyclonal Sp1 antibody for 20 min before the
-61 to -32 probe was added to the reaction. Fig. 5clearly shows that the Sp1 antibody disrupted binding of
the complexes I and II in all three cell lines, although the high
mobility complex III was unaffected. Importantly, preimmune sera did
not interfere with the DNA binding activity of any of the three
complexes. These results conclusively demonstrated that Sp1 was an
integral component of complexes I and II in MCF7, VCREMS, and EJ cells.
However, the protein composition of complex III remains unknown.
Figure 5:
Inhibition of complex formation with Sp1
polyclonal antisera. MCF7, VCREMS, and EJ nuclear extracts (10
µg/reaction) were preincubated with polyclonal antisera (3
µl/reaction) raised against bacterially expressed human Sp1 for 20
min prior to the addition of the GSTP1 promoter fragment
-61 to -32. Preimmune serum was used as a negative
control.
In the Absence of the AP-1 Element, the Two Sp1
Binding Motifs Were Insufficient to Support GSTP1
TranscriptionTo assess the functional importance of these
Sp1 binding sites for GSTP1 transcription, transient
transfection assays were performed with the GSTP1 promoter
deletion constructs, p73CAT and p65CAT (containing the GSTP1 promoter fragments, -73 to +36 and -65 to
+36, respectively). p73CAT contained an intact AP-1 response
element (-69 to -63) as well as the two Sp1 motifs, but the
AP-1 site had been disrupted in p65CAT. Fig. 6clearly shows
that p73CAT was strongly active in MCF7, VCREMS, and EJ cells. However,
in all three cell lines, loss of the AP-1 element abolished
transcriptional activity of the GSTP1 promoter. This result
clearly indicated that the two Sp1 motifs, in the absence of the AP-1
element, were not sufficient for GSTP1 transcription.
Figure 6:
In
the absence of the AP-1 element, the Sp1 binding sites alone were
insufficient to confer optimal activity to the GSTP1 promoter.
The GSTP1 promoter fragments -73 to +36 and
-65 to +36 were subcloned into the pCAT.Basic vector to
generate p73CAT and p65CAT, respectively. Both of these constructs were
transfected into MCF7 (black bars), VCREMS (cross-hatched
bars), and EJ (shaded bars) cells, and their relative CAT
activities were determined. pCAT.Basic (contains no enhancer/promoter
sequences) and pCAT.Control (contains SV40 enhancer and promoter) were
used as negative and positive controls, respectively. The results were
compared between cell lines by correcting for pCAT.Control activity
levels.
However, the role played by the two Sp1 binding sites in
contributing to the high level of CAT activity observed for p73CAT was
not clear, i.e. could the essential AP-1 element still confer
optimal GSTP1 promoter activity in the absence of the Sp1
binding sites?
The Presence of the Distal Sp1 Binding Site Was
Required for Optimal Activity of the GSTP1 PromoterThe
data presented in Fig. 3, Fig. 4, and Fig. 5show
that using nuclear extract prepared from MCF7, VCREMS, and EJ cells,
Sp1 was bound to the GSTP1 promoter fragment -61 to
-32. Moreover, these experiments strongly indicated that only one
of the two putative Sp1 response elements was utilized. However, this
approach did not establish the functional importance of these
DNA-protein interactions.The mutants described in Fig. 3A were introduced by PCR into the GSTP1 promoter fragment -73 to +36 and subcloned into the
pCAT.Basic vector to generate p73Sp1M1CAT, p73Sp1M2CAT, and
p73Sp1M3CAT. These mutated constructs were transfected into MCF7,
VCREMS, and EJ cells, and their transcriptional activity was compared
with that of p73CAT (Fig. 7). The results of these experiments
showed that in all three cell lines, mutation of the distal Sp1 site
(-57 to -49; p73Sp1M1CAT) reduced GSTP1 promoter
activity by 45, 57, and 78% in MCF7, VCREMS, and EJ cells,
respectively. In contrast, mutation of the proximal binding motif
(-47 to -39; p73Sp1M2CAT) had only a relatively marginal
effect on GSTP1 transcription. Consistent with these results,
mutation of both Sp1-like elements (p73Sp1M3CAT) produced effects on GSTP1 promoter activity similar to those of mutation of the
distal site alone.
Figure 7:
The
presence of the distal Sp1 binding site was required for optimal
activity of the GSTP1 promoter. The mutations, M1, M2, and M3
(see Fig. 3A), were introduced by PCR into the GSTP1 promoter fragment -73 to +36 and subcloned
into the pCAT.Basic vector to generate p73Sp1M1CAT, p73Sp1M2CAT, and
p73Sp1M3CAT. These constructs were transfected into MCF7, VCREMS, and
EJ cells, and their CAT activities were compared with that of p73CAT.
The numbers at the top of each lane refer to
CAT activities derived from each construct relative to p73CAT, which
was given an activity level of 100.
Taken together with the in vitro binding
data, these results demonstrated that in MCF7, VCREMS, and EJ cells,
Sp1 was preferentially bound to the distal Sp1 recognition sequence and
that this interaction was required for optimal activity of the GSTP1 promoter.
Loss of Sp1 Binding to the GSTP1 Promoter Did Not
Inhibit GSTP1 Transcriptional Repressor ActivityPrevious
studies in this laboratory have identified a negative regulatory
element (-105 to -86) in the GSTP1 promoter, which
acts to suppress transcription of the GSTP1 gene in MCF7
cells(1) . From the data described above, we have shown that
Sp1 interaction with the distal Sp1 element was important for basal
activity of the GSTP1 promoter. However, the ability of Sp1 to
mediate upstream transcriptional events on GSTP1 promoter
activity remained unclear. In this regard, we investigated the effect
of the loss of Sp1 binding on repressor activity.These experiments
were performed by introducing the mutations M1, M2, and M3 (see Fig. 3A) into the GSTP1 promoter fragment
-105 to +36 and subcloning the resultant three mutants into
pCAT.Basic. Transient transfection assays were performed in MCF7 cells
and the promoter activities of the mutant constructs, p105Sp1M1CAT,
p105Sp1M2CAT, and p105Sp1M2CAT were compared with that of p105CAT (Fig. 8).
Figure 8:
Loss of Sp1 binding to the GSTP1 promoter did not inhibit GSTP1 transcriptional repressor
activity. The mutations, M1, M2 and M3 (see Fig. 3A),
were introduced by PCR into the GSTP1 promoter fragment
-105 to +36 and subcloned into the pCAT.Basic vector to
generate p105Sp1M1CAT, p105Sp1M2CAT, and p105Sp1M3CAT. These constructs
were transfected into MCF7 cells, and their CAT activities were
compared with those of p105CAT and p73CAT. The numbers at the top of each lane refer to the CAT activities derived
from each construct relative to p73CAT, which was given an activity
level of 100.
Similar to results presented in Fig. 7, the
CAT activities of p105Sp1M1CAT and p105Sp1M3CAT were significantly
reduced, whereas the activity of p105Sp1M2CAT was relatively unaffected
compared with the wild-type construct. These results show that loss of
Sp1 binding did not inhibit GSTP1 transcriptional repressor
activity. Therefore, it appeared unlikely that a protein-protein
interaction between Sp1 and the repressor was required to confer the
suppressive effects on GSTP1 transcription.
DISCUSSION
These studies have clearly demonstrated that interaction of
Sp1 with the GSTP1 promoter is required for basal
transcription of the GSTP1 gene. Indeed, in the absence of Sp1
binding, the GSTP1 promoter exhibited only 17-40%
optimal activity in three different cell lines. Moreover, by mutational
analysis, we have shown that the distal Sp1 binding motif (-57 to
-49) was functionally more important than the proximal element in
terms of regulating basal levels of GSTP1 transcription.
However, despite the requirement for Sp1, disruption of the adjacent C1
element deemed the GSTP1 promoter inactive. Therefore, the
presence of Sp1 binding sites alone were insufficient to support GSTP1 transcription. In general, sequence-specific
transcription factors can be classified into two main categories;
proximal promoter factors, which only function close to the
transcriptional start site, and enhancer-binding proteins, which can
exert their effects over much larger distances (48) . Due to
the fact that functional Sp1 binding sites are generally found within a
few hundred nucleotides of the transcriptional start site, Sp1 has been
placed in the former category(28) . Moreover, cloning of Sp1
sites far upstream results in a marked decrease in promoter
activity(49) . These findings have led investigators to
conclude that the primary function of Sp1 is to regulate basal levels
of transcription. In this regard, recent advances have established that
Sp1-mediated transcription has been shown to involve an interaction of
the glutamine-rich activation domain of Sp1 with the
TAF 110 component of the basal TFIID complex (50, 51, 52) . However, it has also been
proposed that proximally bound transcription factors mediate the
regulatory effects of enhancer-binding proteins, i.e. the two
classes of control factors activate transcription synergistically. This
idea was originally formulated from observations that Sp1 interactions
with the SV40 early promoter mediated activity of the SV40
enhancer(53, 54) . Interestingly, Sp1 recognition
motifs are often found located near binding sites for other
transcription factors such as CTF/NF-1(55) , AP-1(56) ,
NF- B(57) , and the sterol regulatory element-binding
protein, SREBP(58) . Indeed, synergistic activation of the HIV
promoter by NF- B and Sp1 (57) and of the low density
lipoprotein receptor gene by SREBP and Sp1 (58) have recently
been demonstrated. Our results have indicated that a similar
mechanism may account for Sp1-mediated activation of the GSTP1 promoter. In the absence of Sp1 binding, the essential C1 element
was only able to confer 17-40% optimal activity on the GSTP1 promoter. Conversely, in the presence of the Sp1 binding motifs,
disruption of the C1 element rendered the GSTP1 promoter
inactive. These data strongly indicate that basal transcriptional
activity of the GSTP1 promoter is mediated by a synergistic
mechanism requiring both Sp1 and the C1 nuclear complex. Given the
critical importance of these two elements, the above conclusion
suggests that cooperativity between these two complexes would mediate
changes in transcriptional rates of the GSTP1 promoter. In
this regard, it was important to examine the role of Sp1 in controlling GSTP1 transcription in three cell lines, MCF7, VCREMS, and EJ,
which exhibited widely different levels of GSTP1 gene
expression. However, similar activity of p73CAT in MCF7, VCREMS, and EJ
cells suggests that events involving changes in C1 or Sp1 binding do
not account for differences in GSTP1 transcriptional rates in
these two cell lines. Indeed, despite differences in protein
composition, similar DNA binding affinities for the C1 complexes in
MCF7 and VCREMS cells have been observed(1) . Furthermore, the
data presented here show no significant differences in the GSTP1 promoter binding characteristics of Sp1 in these three cell lines. Therefore, in terms of constitutively elevated expression of the GSTP1 gene, a change in the relative binding affinities of the
Sp1 and C1 complexes for the GSTP1 promoter does not appear to
be the primary mechanism responsible for increasing GSTP1 mRNA
levels. Indeed, these data strongly indicate that Sp1 is principally
involved in maintaining basal levels of GSTP1 transcription
but not cell-specific differences in GSTP1 gene expression,
because changes in steady state GSTP1 mRNA levels do not
correlate with changes in association of Sp1 with the GSTP1 promoter. The lack of Sp1 involvement in regulating
cell-specific expression of GSTP1 is particularly interesting with
respect to the multidrug-resistant VCREMS cell line. As shown for a
number of other cell lines selected for resistance to anticancer
drugs(10, 59, 60) , development of resistance
in VCREMS cells correlated with an increase in GSTP1 gene
expression levels(1, 36) . Moreover, we have reported
that transcriptional activation of the GSTP1 promoter in
VCREMS cells accounts for the elevated GSTP1 mRNA and protein
levels relative to the parental MCF7 cell line (1) . In this
regard, Borellini et al.(61) have previously shown an
increase in Sp1 levels and DNA binding activity in HL60 leukemia cells
made resistant to adriamycin. Indeed, these authors speculated that
augmented expression and DNA binding activity of Sp1 may account for
the increased transcription of genes associated with the multidrug
resistance phenotype such as P-glycoprotein, whose promoter
contains potential Sp1 binding sites. VCREMS cells, which were
selected for resistance to vincristine but are also cross-resistant to
adriamycin, exhibit increased expression of P-glycoprotein as
well as GSTP1(36) . Clearly, in these cells, the DNA binding
activity of Sp1 was not increased relative to the parental MCF7 cells
and cannot therefore explain the observed changes in gene expression. All evidence to date suggests that the negative regulatory element
located between nucleotides -105 and -86 (1) is the
critically important control region for defining cell-specific
differences in the constitutive level of GSTP1 transcription.
In this regard, these present data have clearly shown that repressor
activity in MCF7 cells was retained even in the absence of Sp1 binding.
Therefore, Sp1 does not appear to be involved in regulating the
suppressive effects of the GSTP1 transcriptional repressor.
This evidence supports the hypothesis that Sp1 is primarily involved in
regulating basal activity of the GSTP1 promoter. Although
these studies have indicated that Sp1 is not involved in determining
cell-specific differences in the constitutive level of GSTP1 gene expression, our data do not exclude the possibility that
changes in Sp1 binding to the GSTP1 promoter may be important
in mediating transient alterations in GSTP1 transcription. In
this regard, our studies have indicated that only one of the two
potential Sp1 binding sites was preferentially utilized in three
different cell lines. However, occupation of multiple GC boxes has been
shown to synergistically activate transcription(62) . As stated
above, the major function of GSTP1 inside the cell is to
provide a detoxification mechanism in its role as an important drug
metabolizing enzyme. Therefore, it is intriguing to perceive an
involvement for the proximal Sp1 element in the transient induction of GSTP1 transcription in response to xenobiotics. In summary,
the data presented in this report have highlighted an absolute
requirement for Sp1 in maintaining activity of the GSTP1 promoter. Moreover, our results have provided strong evidence that
Sp1 is principally involved in regulating basal transcription of the GSTP1 gene but does not appear to mediate directly the
different steady state levels of GSTP1 mRNA in MCF7, VCREMS,
and EJ cells. However, it is interesting to note that recent
developments have characterized several other transcription factors
that can bind to the GC-rich Sp1 binding motif. Evidence suggests that
these regulatory proteins can compete for this promoter element to
either potentiate (e.g. EGR-1(63) ) or repress (e.g. Sp3(64) ) Sp1-mediated transcriptional
activation. Therefore, further work is required to determine whether
similar control mechanisms can modulate GSTP1 gene expression
in a coordinated stress response to dramatic but transient changes in
the intracellular environment.
FOOTNOTES
- *
- The costs of
publication of this article were defrayed in part by the payment of
page charges. This article must therefore by hereby marked
``advertisement'' in accordance with 18 U.S.C.
Section 1734 solely to indicate this fact.
- §
- Present address: Zeneca Central Toxicology
Laboratory, Alderley Park, Macclesfield, Cheshire SK10 4TJ, UK.
- ¶
- To whom correspondence should be addressed.
- (
) - The abbreviations used are: GST, glutathione S-transferase; bp, base pair(s); PCR, polymerase chain
reaction; CAT, chloramphenicol acetyltransferase.
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
We express our gratitude to Dr. Steve Jackson for the
polyclonal Sp1 antisera and to Dr. Bridget Hill for the VCREMS cell
line.
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