Opposing roles of C/EBPα and eEF1A1 in Sp1-regulated miR-122 transcription

We previously showed that miR-122 was frequently downregulated in hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) and C/EBPα transactivated miR-122 expression. In this study, we found that Sp1 bound to the miR-122 promoter at two different sites. Interestingly, either inhibition or overexpression of Sp1 could decrease the miR-122 promoter activity and the cellular miR-122 level in hepatoma cells. Further investigations disclosed that Sp1 cooperated with C/EBPα to induce miR-122 transcription by binding to the positive regulatory site D in the miR-122 promoter, whereas eEF1A1 interacted with Sp1 to bind to the negative regulatory site E and inhibit miR-122 transcription. Significantly, both Sp1 and eEF1A1 levels were enhanced, but C/EBPα and miR-122 expression were reduced in HCC tissues. Knockdown of eEF1A1 enhanced miR-122 level and inhibited cell growth, and these effects were abrogated when Sp1 was silenced. Consistently, the promoter activity enhanced by site E deletion was attenuated by silencing Sp1. Moreover, reduction of miR-122 resulted from Sp1 overexpression was rescued by coexpressing C/EBPα. These data suggest that C/EBPα and eEF1A1 may play opposing roles in Sp1-regulating miR-122 transcription, and the eEF1A1 upregulation accompanied by C/EBPα downregulation in HCC may switch the regulatory functions of Sp1 and led to reduced miR-122 transcription. These findings highlight the complex regulatory network of miR-122 expression and its significance in hepatocarcinogenesis.Abbreviations: MiRNA: microRNA; HCC, hepatocellular carcinoma; eEF1A1: eukaryote translation elongation factor 1A1; siRNA: small interfering RNA; qPCR: real-time quantitative RT-PCR; EMSA: electrophoretic mobility shift assay; ChIP: chromatin immunoprecipitation; TSS: transcription start site.