Keywords :
Animals; COS Cells; Cyclic AMP/metabolism; DNA/metabolism; DNA-Binding Proteins/drug effects/*metabolism/physiology; *Gene Expression Regulation/drug effects; Hela Cells; Humans; Prolactin/*antagonists & inhibitors/*genetics; Promoter Regions, Genetic/drug effects; Protein Binding/genetics; Rats; Receptors, Glucocorticoid/*physiology; Transcription Factor Pit-1; Transcription Factors/drug effects/*metabolism/physiology; Tumor Cells, Cultured
Abstract :
[en] Glucocorticoids have been shown to inhibit the activity of the human prolactin (hPRL) promoter. Using transient expression experiments in rat pituitary cells, we located the sequence conferring glucocorticoid inhibition to a region which contains Pit-1 binding sites, responsible for pituitary-specific expression, but does not seem to contain a glucocorticoid receptor (GR) binding site. Co-transfection experiments in non-pituitary cell lines, using expression vectors for Pit-1 and different mutants of the human GR show that inhibition of the hPRL gene is seen only in the presence of Pit-1 and GR, and that the DNA binding function of the receptor is not required. Immunoprecipitation studies show that either anti-GR or anti-Pit-1 antibodies are able to co-precipitate GR and Pit-1, suggesting an interaction between these factors. We conclude that the activated GR functionally interferes with the pituitary specific factor Pit-1, thereby leading to the observed transcriptional repression.
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