Elevated expression of the human mitochondrial hinge protein gene in cancer

The steady-state level of mitochondrial hinge protein (hinge) RNA is elevated in various cell lines established from human tumors compared to that in normal cells or cells treated with mitogen. Sequences upstream of the hinge gene were cloned and determined. A number of potential protein factor binding DNA elements are present in this region, one of which may possess transcription enhancer-like properties for respiratory chain genes. This element is actually located within the highly repetitive human Alu sequences.