Selective regulation of trypsin gene expression by calcium and by glucose starvation in a rat exocrine pancreas cell line.

Treatment of the rat pancreatic acinar cell line AR4-2J with the calcium ionophore A23187 selectively increases, within a few hours, the steady-state level of trypsin mRNA. Addition of the tumor-promoting phorbol ester phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate potentiates the calcium-induced increase. The mRNA level of the other tested exocrine pancreatic genes decreases. These results were confirmed by DNA transfection experiments, using the 5' flanking region of the trypsin and chymotrypsin genes linked to the coding sequence of the chloramphenicol acetyltransferase (CAT) gene. In calcium-induced cells transfected with the trypsin constructs, an increase in CAT activity was observed, whereas the chymotrypsin constructs revealed a decreased CAT activity. Glucose starvation of AR4-2J cells similarly elicited a selective increase in trypsin mRNA. This selective regulation of trypsin may reflect its role as the key activator of the other zymogen species.