Mutations in the human 5-lipoxygenase gene.

Our data demonstrate the presence of a naturally occurring family of alleles in the core promoter of the 5-LO gene, which is characterized by the deletion or addition of consensus Sp1 (-GGGCGG) and Egr-1 (-GCGGGGGCG-) binding motifs. Each of the variant alleles can bind Sp1 and Egr-1 protein, as indicated by EMSA and supershift analysis with nuclear extracts. In addition, preliminary data from CAT reporter assays indicate that these alleles are less effective than the wild-type allele in initiating 5-LO gene expression. Whether patients harboring the various alleles identified herein have different capacities to transcribe the 5-LO gene and the importance of such potential regulation to the clinical expression of 5-LO have yet to be determined.