[Transformation with the E1A + cHa-ras oncogenes enhances the trans-repressor function of the Elk-1 transcription...

Rat embryo fibroblasts (REF) transformed with the complementing E1A and cHa-ras oncogenes show a down-regulation of the c-fos early response gene, which is transcribed with the participation of Elk-1. The role of Elk-1 was studied with constructs coding for the full-length factor or its N- or C-terminal fragment fused with Gal. The trans-activating effect of each construct on the Gal4-Luc reporter plasmid was estimated in contransfected REF52 and E1A + cHa-ras cells stimulated with serum or treated with sodium butyrate, a histone deacetylase inhibitor. In E1A + cHa-ras cells, serum activated the expression of C-terminal Gal-Elk(206-428) but not that of full-length Gal-Elk(1-428). The serum-induced activation of Gal-Elk(206-428) was suppressed by PD98059, a MEK/ERK inhibitor, and enhanced by SB203580, an inhibitor of the p38-kinase cascade. It was assumed that p38 negatively affects the MEK/ERK cascade, which plays the major role in the Elk-1 activation in response to serum. Sodium butyrate enhanced the Gal-Elk(1-428) activity both in serum-stimulated and in starving E1A - cHa-ras cells, suggesting a high activity of Elk-1-phosphorylating kinases in the latter. The butyrate-mediated activation of Gal-Elk(206-428) and Gal-Elk(1-428) was suppressed by PD98059 and, therefore, depended on the MEK/ERK cascade. Thus, Elk-1 acted not only as a positive, but also as a negative transcription regulator. Possibly, to suppress transcription, Elk-1 binds with histone deacetylases and thereby contributes to the inactive chromatin state in E1A + cHa-ras cells.