To investigate the molecular mechanisms of increased transcription of the insulin-like growth factor-binding protein-1 (IGFBP-1) gene in dietary protein-deprived animals, the cisacting sequence that is involved in this regulation was analyzed. We first showed that IGFBP-1 gene transcription was up-regulated by amino acid deprivation in cultured liver cell lines: H4IIE and HuH-7. Since HuH-7 cells showed a greater increase in IGFBP-1 mRNA in response to amino acid deprivation, this cell line was used in further experiments. Using a promoter function assay, we found that up-regulation of promoter activity responding to amino acid deprivation was abolished by deleting the region between -112 and -81 bp from the cap site from the gene construct. This cis-acting region includes the insulin-responsive element (IRE) and glucocorticoid responsive element (GRE) of IGFBP-1. In summary, the present observation suggests that the 32-bp (-112 to -81) in the IGFBP-1 gene 5' promoter region is involved in the induction of the IGFBP-1 gene in response to amino acid deprivation.

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