Two overlapping sequence motifs within the polyomavirus enhancer are independently the targets of stimulation by both the tumor promoter 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate and the Ha-ras oncogene.

A tumor-promoting phorbol ester, 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate (TPA), strongly stimulates the activity of polyomavirus enhancer in a human erythroleukemia cell line, K562. The target of stimulation was the previously defined A element (from nucleotides 5107 to 5130) of the enhancer. We found that within the A element, two partly overlapping sequence motifs (one from nucleotides 5107 to 5117, the other from nucleotides 5113 to 5121) were independently the targets of TPA stimulation. The former is homologous to the enhancer core sequence of the adenovirus type 5 E1A gene, and the latter shares the consensus AP-1-binding site. In addition, transiently expressed Ha-ras oncogene also stimulated these two subelements in K562 cells, as we reported for NIH 3T3 cells previously.