We studied potential modulators of antithrombin gene expression. A putative hormone response element (HRE) was identified by sequence similarity analysis of the antithrombin promoter, situated between nucleotides -92 and -54 relative to the transcription start site. This HRE contains three hexanucleotide motifs with an AGGTCA consensus, which are potential targets of members of the steroid/thyroid superfamily of nuclear receptors. Stimulation of the hepatoma cell line HepG2 with the receptor ligands l-3,5,3´-tri-iodothyronine, all-trans retinoic acid, or their combination, increased production of antithrombin into the culture medium by 1.3-, 1.6-, and 2.0-fold, respectively. In contrast, the receptor ligand 1,25-dihydroxycholecalciferol [1,25-(OH)2VitD3] did not influence antithrombin production. Analysis of promoter chloramphenicol acetyltransferase (CAT) constructs, showed that the first 86 bp of the antithrombin promoter region are sufficient for basal transcription. The DNA length polymorphism of 32 bp or 108 bp, located upstream of position -276, did not influence antithrombin promoter activity. The antithrombin promoter activity dropped to background values when deleting the region -97/-49 of promoter fragment -453/+57. Transactivation of the antithrombin promoter by retinoid X receptor α (RXRα) (5–7-fold) or thyroid hormone receptor β (TRβ) (4–5-fold) was only observed when at least -167/+57 bp of the promoter region is present in CAT constructs, and when the appropriate ligand of the nuclear receptor was added. This transactivation was not observed upon deletion of the antithrombin promoter region -97/-49. With three copies of the antithrombin promoter fragment -109/-42 in front of the thymidine kinase minimal promoter, transactivation was only obtained with RXRα, and not with TRβ. In conclusion, these results indicate that the ligand-dependent enhancement of antithrombin gene expression is regulated by RXRα as well as by TRβ. Transactivation of antithrombin gene expression by RXRα and TRβ appears to be dependent upon the presence of promoter region up to nucleotide -167. The HRE segment (-109/-42) only confers RXRα responsiveness to a heterologous promoter. Further study is needed to unravel the exact nature of this HRE and its 5´-flanking sequences.
Thyroid Hormone-mediated Enhancement of Heterodimer Formation between Thyroid Hormone Receptor β and Retinoid X Receptor
