1: Exp Cell Res. 2005 Jan 1;302(1):129-42. Sp1/Sp3 and the myeloid zinc finger gene MZF1 regulate the human N-cadherin promoter in osteoblasts. Le Mee S, Fromigue O, Marie PJ. Laboratory of Osteoblast Biology and Pathology, INSERM U606, Lariboisiere Hospital, 75475 Cedex 10 Paris, France. To determine the molecular mechanisms by which N-cadherin transcription is regulated, we cloned and sequenced a 3681-bp of the 5'-flanking region of the human N-cadherin gene. Deletion analysis of the proximal region identified a minimal 318-bp region with strong promoter activity in human osteoblasts. The cryptic promoter is characterized by high GC content and a GA-rich binding core that may bind zing finger transcription factors. Electrophoretic mobility shift assays (EMSA), competition and supershift EMSA revealed that an Sp1/Sp3 binding site acts as a basal regulatory element of the promoter in osteoblasts. Incubation of osteoblast nuclear extracts with -163/-131 wild-type probe containing the GA-rich binding core revealed another specific complex, which was not formed with a -163/-131 probe mutated in the GA repeat. EMSA identified the nuclear factor involved as myeloid zinc finger-1 (MZF1). Mutation analysis showed that Sp1/Sp3 and MZF1 binding sites contribute to basal promoter activity. Cotransfection analyses showed that Sp1 and MZF1 overexpression increases whereas Sp3 antagonizes Sp1-induced N-cadherin promoter activity in osteoblasts. RT-PCR analysis showed that human osteoblastic cells express MZF1 and that Sp1/MZF1 overexpression increased N-cadherin expression. These results indicate that Sp1/Sp3 and MZF1 are important transcription factors regulating N-cadherin promoter activity and expression in osteoblasts. PMID: 15541732 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE] --------------------------------------------------------------- 2: Mol Cells. 2004 Oct 31;18(2):157-62. Regulatory elements involved in transcription of the human NeuAcalpha2,3Galbeta1,3GalNAcalpha2,6-sialyltransferase (hST6GalNAc IV) gene. Kang NY, Park YD, Choi HJ, Kim KS, Lee YC, Kim CH. National Research Laboratory for Glycobiology, Department of Biochemistry and Molecular Biology, College of Oriental Medicine, Dongguk University, Kyungju 780-714, Korea. We previously cloned and characterized the promoter region of the human NeuAcalpha2,3Galbeta1,3GalNAcalpha2,6-sialyltransferase (hST6GalNAc IV) gene [Kim et al. (2003)]. In the present study, we identified a region of 294 bp upstream of exon 1 of the gene that produced maximal transcriptional activity in human Jurkat T cells. Site-directed mutagenesis and transient transfection assays demonstrated that Sp1 and MZF1 elements in this region were required for the promoter activity. Further analysis by electrophoretic mobility shift assays using specific competitors and antibody revealed that Sp1 and MZF1 nuclear proteins interacted with these elements. These results indicate that Sp1 and MZF1 are involved in the transcriptional regulation of the hST6GalNAc IV gene in Jurkat T cells. PMID: 15528990 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE] --------------------------------------------------------------- 3: Eur J Immunogenet. 2004 Feb;31(1):15-9. Allele-specific binding to the -308 single nucleotide polymorphism site in the tumour necrosis factor-alpha promoter. Baseggio L, Bartholin L, Chantome A, Charlot C, Rimokh R, Salles G. Equipe d'Accueil 3737 Pathologie des Cellules Lymphoides, Claude Bernard University, Lyon, France. Single nucleotide polymorphisms in the tumour necrosis factor alpha (TNF-alpha) promoter region may modulate TNF-alpha gene transcriptional activity by modifying the binding of transcription factors. Here we confirm that a specific DNA complex binds preferentially the variant TNF2 allele in various cell types and demonstrate that activating protein (AP)-2, myeloid zinc finger gene 1 (MZF-1) and Sp1 are not involved in this complex. PMID: 15009176 [PubMed - indexed for MEDLINE] ---------------------------------------------------------------