A high level of CCAAT-enhancer binding protein-delta expression is a major determinant for markedly elevated differential gene expression of the platelet-derived growth factor-alpha receptor in vascular smooth muscle cells of genetically hypertensive rats.

-Platelet-derived growth factor-alpha receptor (PDGF-alphaR) expression is markedly elevated in cultured vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) from spontaneously hypertensive rats (SHR) when compared with normotensive rat strains, Sprague-Dawley, Wistar, and Wistar-Kyoto rats (WKY). This "almost-all-or-none" type of differential expression strongly suggests that PDGF-alphaR or its transcription-regulating mechanisms or factors are significantly related to genetic hypertension. To evaluate the role of PDGF-alphaR in vascular remodeling and hypertension, we have investigated the underlying molecular mechanism. We have recently shown that the regulatory domain responsible for this difference is localized to the PDGF-alphaR promoter region between -246 and -139, which contains an enhancer core sequence specific for CCAAT-enhancer binding proteins (C/EBPs). We defined the roles of this element for hypertensive strain-specific PDGF-alphaR gene transcription. DNA-protein binding studies by competition in electromobility shift and supershift assays revealed that 2 members, C/EBP-beta and C/EBP-delta, are mainly responsible for DNA-protein complex formation; the former acts as a transcriptional repressor and the latter as an activator of the PDGF-alphaR gene, respectively. Western or Northern blot analyses supported evidence for high expression of C/EBP-delta seen only in SHR-derived VSMCs. Furthermore, forced expression of C/EBP-delta transactivated the transcriptional efficiency of the PDGF-alphaR gene even in WKY-derived VSMCs, whereas that of C/EBP-beta had an opposite effect in SHR-derived VSMCs. These findings indicate that differential expression of members of the C/EBP family, mainly C/EBP-delta and possibly C/EBP-beta, are responsible for the strain-specific gene transcription of PDGF-alphaR in VSMCs.