Acute phase-dependent changes in the binding of rat liver nucleoproteins to the cytokine response element of the rat haptoglobin gene.

Hormones released during the acute phase reaction promote the transcriptional activation of the haptoglobin (Hp) gene and a consequent increase of Hp protein synthesis in the liver. The mechanisms underlying the alterations of basal transcription rates of eukaryotic genes are assumed to result from modulations of the binding affinities between nucleoproteins and specific DNA sequences in the enhancer and promoter elements. In order to characterize the changes in the interaction of nucleoproteins with the promoter that accompany the induction of the Hp gene, nuclear extracts from normal and inflamed livers were probed with hormone responsive element (HRE) of the rat Hp gene by gel mobility shift and Southwestern assays. Each of the three cis-acting sequences of the HRE, elements A, B, and C, recognized a distinct set of proteins. Together they conferred an additional level of specificity to the protein binding sites of the entire ABC-element. These sites were recognized by proteins in liver nuclear extracts isolated from both control and treated rats. The differences in the gel shift and Southwestern patterns of the corresponding DNA-protein complexes suggested that transcriptional activation of the Hp gene relied on changes in the concentrations and/or functional modifications of preexisting proteins rather than on the induction of new trans-acting factors.