Regulation of albumin gene expression in hepatoma cells of fetal phenotype: dominant inhibition of HNF1 function and role of ubiquitous transcription factors.

Two widely used hepatoma cell lines, mouse BW1J and human HepG2, express gene products characteristic of fetal hepatocytes, including serum albumin, whereas reporter genes driven by the albumin promoter are expressed at very low levels compared with highly differentiated hepatoma cells. We have investigated the low albumin promoter activity in BW1J cells to understand differences in liver gene regulation between fetal and adult cells. Addition of the albumin upstream enhancer, or any other fragment of the albumin gene, failed to modify expression of the transfected promoter in BW1J cells. Analysis of cis elements of the albumin promoter showed that, in contrast to highly differentiated H4II cells, in BW1J cells the activity largely depends on ubiquitous transcription factors. Both BW1J and HepG2 cells produce the liver-enriched transcription factor HNF1; dimerization and DNA binding properties are identical to those of liver HNF1, yet the protein fails to show the anticipated transcriptional stimulatory activity. A transfected HNF1 expression vector strongly trans-activates the albumin promoter in HepG2 but only weakly in BW1J cells, and in hybrids (BW1J x Fao), inefficient HNF1 function is dominant. We conclude that hepatoma cells of the fetal phenotype are deficient in the use of HNF1 to drive transcription of the albumin gene and that they harbor a dominant modulator of HNF1 function.