Activation of protein phosphatase 1alpha promoter in ascites hepatoma cells.

We have already reported the nucleotide sequence of 5'-flanking region of rat PP1alpha gene and identified the promoter region in NIH3T3 cells. Here we determined the promoter activity of PP1alpha gene in ascites hepatoma cells and compared with that of hepatocytes. Reporter analysis showed that the promoter activity was enhanced in an ascites hepatoma AH13 compared with normal hepatocytes at two regions, -37 to -198 bp and -492 to -848 bp upstream of the translation start site. At -37 to -198 bp region with high GC content, binding of Sp1 was markedly increased in all of five ascites hepatomas examined. At -492 to -848 bp region, two bands were clearly detected in two of the five ascites hepatomas, AH13 and AH7974F, by gel shift analysis. These results strongly suggest that the increase in PP1alpha mRNA expression in ascites hepatomas is at least in part due to the enhanced promoter activity of PP1alpha gene.