Isolation and characterization of the promoter region of human nm23-H1, a metastasis suppressor gene.

Allelic deletions in the nm23, a metastasis suppressor gene, are known to occur in neuroblastomas, breast and colorectal carcinomas. Down-regulation of nm23 expression has been reported in various rodent and human tumor cells with high metastasis phenotype. Colorectal tumors showed overexpression of nm23. To elucidate the regulatory mechanisms of nm23, we isolated, cloned and sequenced the presumptive regulatory DNA fragment spanning the 5' region of the human nm23-H1 gene. The region's nucleotide sequence shows the presence of motifs typical for transcriptional elements such as TFIID, AP-1 and CTF/NF1. A common transcription initiation site is located at -136 upstream from the first ATG codon in placenta tissue, in breast, colorectal, prostate tumor cell lines and in primary colorectal tumor. Multiple transcription start sites were identified in tumor cell lines and colorectal tumor. When the promoter element was linked to a reporter gene, chloramphenicol acetyltransferase (CAT) and transfected in human 2fTGH cells, strong CAT activity was detected, which also showed that the presence of AP-1 and CTF/NF1 elements are essential for promoter activity. A detailed study of the structure and function of the promoter element of the nm23-H1 gene will help in understanding the regulatory mechanisms of nm23 expression and its role in tumor progression, especially in metastasis.