Deletion analyses of 5'-flanking region of the human elastin gene. Delineation of functional promoter and regulatory cis-elements.

To delineate cis-acting regulatory elements of the human elastin gene, several elastin promoter region/chloramphenicol acetyltransferase reporter gene constructs were developed. The spectrum of inserts, spanning from -2260 to +2, was shown to contain several SP-1 and AP2 binding sites, as well as putative glucocorticoid, cAMP, and 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate responsive elements. Assay of promoter activity in transient transfections of rat aortic smooth muscle cells, human skin fibroblasts, HT-1080 human fibrosarcoma cells, HeLa cells, or mouse NIH-3T3 cells allowed delineation of several functional subregions within 2.26 kilobases of the 5'-flanking DNA. The results suggest that the basic promoter element resides within the region -128 to -1, and the 5'-flanking DNA contains several functional regulatory subregions. Also, the regulatory function of three putative SP-1 binding sites was demonstrated by transfections with a plasmid devoid of such sequences. These findings attest to the complexity of transcriptional regulation of the elastin gene.