Multiple regulatory elements and phorbol 12-O-tetradecanoate 13-acetate responsiveness of the rat placental glutathione transferase gene.

We have analyzed the cis-acting regulatory DNA elements of the placental rat glutathione S-alkyltransferase (GST-P) gene. Various regions of the 5' flanking sequence were fused with a bacterial chloramphenicol acetyltransferase gene. The transcriptional activity of each construct was determined by the transient expression assay after introduction into a hepatoma cell line. Multiple regulatory elements were identified. Two enhancing elements were located 2.5 and 2.2 kilobases upstream from the transcription start site and designated GST-P enhancers I and II (GPEI and GPEII, respectively). A consensus sequence of the phorbol 12-O-tetradecanoate 13-acetate responsive elements was present in the GPEI and at position -61. GPEII contained two of the simian virus 40 and one of the polyoma enhancer core-like sequences. A silencing element was also found 400 base pairs upstream from the cap site. In accordance with the above observation, endogenous GST-P gene was found to be stimulated when the rat fibroblast line 3Y1 was treated with phorbol 12-O-tetradecanoate 13-acetate. Phorbol 12-O-tetradecanoate 13-acetate enhanced the expression of the transfected GST-P gene to a much higher degree in HeLa cells than in the hepatoma cells, which constitutively expressed the endogenous GST-P. The results are discussed in terms of the specific derepression of GST-P gene during hepatocarcinogenesis in the rat.