Upregulation of L-plastin gene by testosterone in breast and prostate cancer cells: identification of three cooperative androgen receptor-binding sequences.

L-Plastin is normally a leukocyte-specific actin-binding protein; it is also expressed in the majority of human cancer cell lines that are derived from many types of solid tumors. We have previously reported the isolation of the L-plastin gene promoter, in which we identified several potential steroid receptor-binding sequences. We now obtained evidence that L-plastin gene expression was positively regulated by testosterone in androgen receptor (AR)-positive prostate and breast cancer cells. DNase I footprint analysis identified three AR-binding elements (ARE) located in a 545-bp region approximately 1.1 kb upstream from the transcription initiation site. However, each of these three AREs exhibited very little testosterone/AR-responsive enhancer activities toward a test promoter (of the thymidine kinase gene) when tested in MCF-7 breast cancer cells. Their testosterone/AR responsiveness became evident only when two or three of them were combined. In PC-3 prostate cancer cells, cooperation among L-plastin AREs was still evident although individually they had moderate levels of testosterone/AR responsiveness. Thus, the three L-plastin AREs, despite their imperfect sequences compared with the consensus ARE, could cooperate with each other to become a potent testosterone/AR-responsive unit, which was likely responsible for the inducibility of the L-plastin gene by testosterone.