Transcriptional regulation of the human cholesterol 7 alpha-hydroxylase gene

As an initial step toward understanding the transcriptional regulation of cholesterol 7 alpha-hydroxylase (CYP7) in man, we isolated and functionally characterized the 5'-flanking region of the human CYP7 gene. The nucleotide sequences of the first exon and 1.6 kb preceding the exon were determined and found to contain a TATA box at position -30, a modified CAAT box at position -92, three potential hepatocyte nuclear factor 3 (HNF-3) recognition sites at nucleotides -316, -288, and -255, respectively, and a modified sterol response element at position -271. DNA sequences containing 1.3 kb of the 5'-flanking region and 29 nucleotides of the first exon were linked to the chloramphenicol acetyltransferase gene and transiently transfected into several cell lines. Promoter activity was very strong in the human hepatoma cell line HepG2 but absent in cells of nonhepatic origin. Mutational analysis of the promoter identified several regions that function in the transcriptional regulation of CYP7. Introduction of a fragment containing the region from -432 to -220 upstream of a heterologous promoter, in either orientation, resulted in a tremendous stimulation of activity in HepG2 cells. DNase I footprint analysis identified three regions within this fragment which were protected from digestion. The overexpression of HNF-3 in HepG2 cells resulted in a 4-fold stimulation of CYP7 transcriptional activity. We suggest that the region between -432 and -220 functions as a cell-specific enhancer whose activity is controlled, in part, by HNF-3.