The Sp1 transcription factor plays an important role in mediating the p53-independent activation of the p21(WAF1) (WAF1) promoter by phorbol 12-myristate13-acetate (PMA) in hematopoietic cells. Using GAL4-Sp1 fusion proteins and a luciferase reporter, PMA is shown to activate the transcriptional activity of Sp1 independent of the WAF1 promoter. This activation does not require the Ser/Thr-rich ...

Expression of the gene encoding fibroblast growth factor receptor 1 (FGFR1) and subsequent FGFR1-mediated cell signaling controls numerous developmental and disease-related processes. The transcriptional regulation of the FGFR1 gene is central to these developmental events and serves as a molecular model for understanding transcriptional control of growth factor receptor genes. The FGFR1 promot...

The tumor suppressor p53 and its signaling pathway play a critical role in tumor prevention. As a direct p53 target gene, the role of glutaminase 2 (GLS2) in tumorigenesis is unclear. In this study, we found that GLS2 expression is significantly decreased in majority of human hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). Restoration of GLS2 expression in HCC cells inhibits the anchorage-independent growth of...

Hypoxia occurs during development of cancers and is correlated with cancer progression. Hypoxia also induces epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR) expression. The EGFR plays a vital role in cell growth, and its overexpression can lead to transformation. We sought to determine the regulator(s) of EGFR expression during hypoxia. We demonstrate that early growth response factor 1 (Egr-1), which ...

Retinoic acid (RA) and epidermal growth factor (EGF) regulate growth and differentiation of epithelial cells. RA has both direct and indirect effects on gene expression. Direct effects result from modulation of the transcriptional activity of genes, which contain RA response elements (RARE) recognized by trans-acting nuclear RA receptors (RARs). A second indirect mechanism for the modulatory ef...

Camelina sativa (camelina) is an oilseed crop touted for use on marginal lands; however, it is no more tolerant of soil salinity than traditional crops, such as canola. Plant growth-promoting bacteria (PGPB) that produce 1-aminocyclopropane-1-carboxylate deaminase (ACC deaminase) facilitate plant growth in the presence of abiotic stresses by reducing stress ethylene. Rhizospheric and endophytic...

Previously, we have shown that the transcription of p35, a lipoprotein gene of Borrelia burgdorferi, is upregulated or initiated during the post-logarithmic bacterial growth phase in vitro. To identify potential regulatory factors, we examined the formation of DNA-protein complexes by electromobility shift assay, using a 157-bp DNA fragment that spans the p35 promoter region and cell-free extra...

PTH-related protein (PTHrP) is the principle mediator of the syndrome of humoral hypercalcemia of malignancy and has potential paracrine actions on smooth muscle, epithelial cell growth, and placental calcium transport. The human PTHrP gene is complex: a combination of three promoters, one 5' alternative splicing event and alternative 3' splicing, which produces three PTHrP isoforms (139, 141, ...

We previously reported that the retroviral vector expressing the herpes simplex virus-thymidine kinase gene under the control of 0.3-kb human a-fetoprotein (AFP) gene promoter (AF0.3) provided the cytotoxicity to ganciclovir (GCV) in high-AFP-producing human hepatoma cells but not in low-AFP-producing cells. Therefore, specific enhancement of AFP promoter activity is likely to be required to in...