Role of C/A polymorphism at -20 on the expression of human angiotensinogen gene

-Angiotensinogen is the glycoprotein precursor of 1 of the most potent vasoactive hormones, angiotensin II. Human angiotensinogen gene contains a C/A polymorphism at -20 located between the TATA box and transcriptional initiation site. We show here that when nucleoside A is present at -20, this sequence binds to the estrogen receptor. We also show that transcriptional activity of reporter constructs containing human angiotensinogen gene promoter with nucleoside A at -20 is increased on cotransfection of an expression vector containing human estrogen receptor-alpha coding sequence in human hepatoma cells (HepG2) followed by estrogen treatment. On the other hand, adenoviral major late transcription factor binds preferentially to this region of the promoter when nucleoside C is present at -20. We also show that reporter constructs containing human angiotensinogen gene promoter with nucleoside C at -20 have increased basal promoter activity on transient transfection in HepG2 cells as compared with reporter constructs with nucleoside A at -20. Our data suggest that C/A polymorphism at -20 may modulate the expression of human angiotensinogen gene in a sex-specific manner.