O. Taby et al., CLONING OF THE RAT-TISSUE FACTOR CDNA AND PROMOTER - IDENTIFICATION OF A SERUM-RESPONSE REGION, Thrombosis and haemostasis, 76(5), 1996, pp. 697-702
Tissue factor (TF) initiates coagulation and its expression in vascula
r smooth muscle cells (VSMC) likely plays a role in the propagation of
arterial thrombosis. We report cloning the cDNA and proximal promoter
region of the rat TF gene. While maintaining the general structure an
d organization of the TF molecule, there is a surprising divergence (a
pproximate to 18%) between the derived amino acid sequences of the rat
and mouse TF. In contrast, there is striking similarity (90%) in the
5' untranslated regions. High levels of basal promoter activity were s
een in rat VSMC with constructs containing 106 bp of sequence downstre
am from the putative transcription start site and 426 to 103 bp of ups
tream sequence. Deletion of the sequence from -103 to -79, containing
a single SP1 site, removed virtually all of the basal and serum-induce
d activity. Removal of the NF kappa B site or two additional upstream
SP1 sites had little effect on serum responsiveness. Removal of the 5'
untranslated region abolished most of the basal activity of the TF pr
omoter, suggesting that its high degree of conservation may be due to
the presence of transcriptional elements critical for TF expression in
rodent VSMC.