Gene Regulation and Expression Pattern of the Growth Factor Pleiotrophin in Breast Cancer
Abstract
The growth factor plelotrophin (PTN) is a positive regulator of tumor angiogenesis. PTN is expressed in breast cancer cell lines and primary breast tumor specimens and has been discussed as one major factor for the malignant phenotype of human mammary carcinoma. The expression of FIN is regulated by at least two promoters, one that is species-conserved and one that is human-specific. The latter is generated by insertion of a human endogenous retrovirus-like element (HERV) into the PTN gene. Activity of the HERV promoter element results in the transcription of HERV-PTN fusion transcripts in addition to PTN transcript. The HERV-PTN fusion transcripts are expressed in human breast cancer cell lines, in primary human breast tumor specimens, in epithelial cells of benign breast specimens and in some epithelial and myoepithelial cells of normal breast tissue. The expression of PTN in normal and pathologic human breast tissue is mediated by coexpression of the species-specific transcript and the HERV-PTN fusion transcript. Here we report the identification of various dselements in the HERV-PTN promoter that regulate the expression of the HERV-PTN fusion transcript. Furthermore, we identified several transcription factors by electrophoretic mobility shift assays that bind to these regulatory promoter elements of the PTN promoter.
Document Details
- Document Type
- Technical Report
- Publication Date
- Sep 01, 2001
- Accession Number
- ADA404690
Entities
People
- Heinz J. List
Organizations
- Georgetown University