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Glucocorticoid activation of the neuronal nicotinic acetylcholine receptor α7 subunit gene: involvement of transcription factor Egr‐1
Author(s) -
Carrasco-Serrano Carmen,
Criado Manuel
Publication year - 2004
Publication title -
febs letters
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.593
H-Index - 257
eISSN - 1873-3468
pISSN - 0014-5793
DOI - 10.1016/j.febslet.2004.04.049
Subject(s) - promoter , glucocorticoid receptor , interleukin 10 receptor, alpha subunit , protein subunit , transcription factor , glucocorticoid , nicotinic acetylcholine receptor , microbiology and biotechnology , sgk1 , acetylcholine receptor , gamma aminobutyric acid receptor subunit alpha 1 , transfection , biology , chemistry , receptor , endocrinology , gene , g alpha subunit , gene expression , biochemistry
The α7 subunit is a component of nicotinic acetylcholine receptors expressed in bovine chromaffin cells. The peculiar localization of these receptors at adrenomedullary areas adjacent to the adrenal cortex suggests that factors, probably glucocorticoids, arising from the cortex might diffuse and regulate α7 receptor expression. In reporter gene transfection experiments, dexamethasone increased α7 promoter activity by up to fivefold in a concentration‐ and time‐dependent manner despite the absence of consensus glucocorticoid receptor elements at the α7 promoter. Transcriptional activation induced by glucocorticoids was abolished through simultaneous mutation of at least two of the three sites for the immediate early transcription factor Egr‐1, present in the proximal promoter region of the α7 subunit gene. Therefore, glucocorticoids activate the α7 subunit gene through Egr‐1 in an indirect way.