Release of the p53-induced repression on thymidine kinase promoter by single p53-binding sequence.

Herpes simplex thymidine kinase (TK) promoter was shown to be repressed by the wild-type p53. Using a model system that the p53-binding site was linked to the thymidine kinase promoter, we demonstrated that single p53-specific binding site was sufficient to abolish the repression. On the contrary, the mutant p53 had the opposite effects on the HSV-TK promoter in BHK cells. The results suggest that the p53-binding site may act as an enhancer to regulate the gene expression in a novel way in vivo.