Transcriptional regulation of a plasminogen activator gene by cyclic AMP in a homologous cell-free system. Involvement of cyclic AMP-dependent protein kinase in transcriptional control.

We have developed a homologous cell-free transcription system using extracts from the porcine kidney cell line LLC-PK1 to study the molecular mechanisms by which cAMP regulates urokinase-type plasminogen activator (uPA) gene transcription. We demonstrated accurate initiation of transcription using a cloned fragment of the uPA gene as template. The in vitro transcription rate was stimulated by up to 10-fold by the addition of cAMP (greater than 10 microM). This effect of cAMP on the transcription was greater for closed circular than for linear templates. Furthermore, addition of the purified catalytic subunit of cAMP-dependent protein kinase stimulated the in vitro transcription in the absence of cAMP to levels 2-fold higher than those observed with cAMP. Addition of cAMP had no stimulatory effect on the transcription of the rat heme oxygenase gene promoter tested under identical conditions. HeLa whole cell extract by itself showed no stimulation of transcription of the uPA gene by cAMP. Results of reconstitution experiments using HeLa whole cell extracts and nuclear lysates from LLC-PK1 cells suggest the presence of putative cAMP regulatory factor(s) as well as general transcription factor(s) in the nucleus of LLC-PK1 cells. These results provide experimental evidence directly implicating cAMP-dependent protein kinase in the regulation of gene transcription.