The primary response transcription factor, early growth response-1 (Egr-1), is rapidly activated by a variety of extracellular stimuli. Egr-1 binds to a sequence found in the promoters of genes involved in vascular injury, such as PDGF-A and tissue factor, and trans -activates their expression in en

The results indicate that the promoter activity of the 760/+19 region of the vWF gene depends on transcription factors of the Ets family of which several members like Ets-1, Ets-2 and Erg are expressed in endothelium. Cotransfection of Ets-1 and Erg expression plasmids is su cient to induce the 760/+19 vWF promoter activity in HeLa cells.

The vascular endothelium, lining the blood vessel wall, is constantly exposed to wall shear stresses generated by flowing blood. Gene regulation, critical for endothelial cell function, depends on complex interactions at the promoter level and utilizes overlapping signal transduction cascades to activate the expression of genes involved in many biological processes.

The early growth response factor-1 (Egr-1) gene encodes a zinc finger transcription factor which is critical for cell proliferation and differentiation. The human Egr-1 promoter comprises regulatory elements including two Sp1 sites, an AP1 site, two cAMP response elements and an Egr-1 binding site. In addition to these transcription factor binding sites, the promoter harbours five serum response elements (SREs) and associated binding sites for the Ets transcription factor family, previously identified from partial sequence data (Sakamoto et al, Oncogene 6; 867-871, 1991). We now report the full sequence of the human Egr-1 promoter and confirm the presence of a fifth serum response element. This element is functionally active in a minimal promoter vector in response to the MAP kinase kinase MEK1.