Identification of a cis-regulatory element and putative trans-acting factors responsible for 12-O-tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate (TPA)-mediated induction of heme oxygenase expression in myelomonocytic cell lines

The human monocytic leukemia cell line THP-1 differentiates into macrophage-like cells when treated with a variety of agents, including 12-O- tetradecanoylphorbol-13-acetate (TPA). We show here that during this process, the expression of heme oxygenase, a rate-limiting enzyme in heme catabolism, is induced. Treatment with TPA increases heme oxygenase mRNA in other myelomonocytic cell lines also, but not in cell lines of other lineages, such as HeLa cells. Increased heme oxygenase activity may represent one of the functions of activated macrophages, which sequestrate senescent erythrocytes and degrade heme derived from hemoglobin. This cell-type-specific induction by TPA treatment is further investigated with respect to transcriptional regulation. We defined a cis-regulatory element, 5'-GTCATATGAC-3', located in the 5'-flanking region (positions -156 to -147) of the human heme oxygenase gene, which confers inducibility by TPA in THP-1 cells but not in HeLa cells. Nuclear proteins that bind to this element, which may be responsible for the cell specificity, were identified in THP-1 nuclear extracts. This element contains the consensus motif CANNTG, to which a large family of basic helix- loop-helix proteins binds. Our results suggest a novel mechanism of TPA- mediated transcriptional regulation in myelomonocytic cell lines.