Retinoic acid receptors and retinoid X receptor-alpha down-regulate the transforming growth factor-beta 1 promoter by antagonizing AP-1 activity.

Overexpression of the multifunctional growth factor transforming growth factor-beta 1 (TGF beta 1) has been connected to numerous diseases in human. TGF beta 1 expression is largely governed by three AP-1 binding sites located in two different promoters of this gene. We have examined the ability of retinoid receptors to inhibit the activity of the two promoters (especially the promoter 1) by cotransfection assays in the hepatocellular carcinoma cell line HepG2. When the TGF beta 1 promoter activity is induced by 12-O-tetradecanoyl phorbol13-acetate (an activator of AP-1-controlled gene transcription), this activity can be strongly repressed by retinoic acid receptor-alpha (RAR alpha), RAR beta, or retinoid X receptor-alpha (RXR alpha) as well as other members of the nuclear receptor family. Repression was hormone dependent and a function of receptor concentration. Heterodimerization of RAR alpha or RAR beta with RXR alpha did not modify the inhibition activities of these receptors, indicating that heterodimer formation is not required for antagonizing of AP-1 activity. On further examining the anti-AP-1 activity of RXR alpha we observed that three different AP-1-controlled promoters (TGF beta 1, collagenase, and cFos) can be inhibited. Using gel shift assays, we demonstrated that RXR alpha inhibits Jun and Fos DNA binding and that 9-cis RA enhances this inhibition, suggesting that a mechanism involving direct protein-protein interaction between RXR and AP-1 components mediates the inhibitory effect observed in vivo. Transfection analyses with RXR alpha point mutations revealed that residues L422, C432, and, to a lesser extent, residues L418 and L430, are involved in ligand-induced anti-AP1 activity of RXR alpha in vivo. Thus both types of retinoid receptors can inhibit AP-1-activated promoters, including the TGF beta 1 gene promoter, via a mechanism that involves protein-protein interaction.