An Sp1 binding site is essential for basal activity of the human prostate-specific transglutaminase gene (TGM4) promoter

Human prostate-specific transglutaminase (hTG(P)) is a cross-linking enzyme encoded by the TGM4 gene. The TGM4 gene promoter was characterized by dele tion mapping and mutational analysis. Promoter constructs, containing the m inimal promoter requirements, could efficiently drive transcription in the prostate cancer cell lines PC346C and LNCaP and the hepatic cancer cell lin e Hep3B. The region between positions -113 and -61 was demonstrated to be e ssential for core promoter activity. Further analysis revealed the function al importance of an Spl binding motif, 5'-ACCCCGCCCC-3', at positions -96 t o -87. This sequence is a binding site of the ubiquitous transcription fact ors Spl and Sp3. (C) 1999 Elsevier Science B.V. All rights reserved.