Identification of a cis-regulatory element mediating somatostatin inhibition of epidermal growth factor-stimulated gastrin gene transcription

Antrat gastrin secretion and gene expression is inhibited by the paracrine release of somatostatin from antral D cells. Transforming growth factor-α and epidermal growth factor (EGF) stimulate gastrin reporter gene constructs when transfected into pituitary GH₄ cells. Somatostatin inhibits EGF stimulation of gastrin gene expression, which is in part mediated at the level of transcriptional regulation as somatostatin inhibits EGF stimulation of gastrin reporter gene constructs. Somatostatin inhibition was abolished by pertussis toxin, indicating somatostatin inhibits transcription through the inhibitory G protein G_i. Somatostatin inhibition was unaffected by vanadate and okadaic acid, implying this inhibitory pathway is mediated neither through phosphotyrosine phosphatases nor serine/threonine phosphatases, respectively. Gastrin reporter genes containing 82 base pairs of the 5′-flanking DNA were sufficient to confer both EGF responsiveness and inhibition by somatostatin in GH₄ cells. However, transcription of a gastrin reporter gene construct containing only the EGF response element (GGGGCGGGGTGGGGGG), located at -68 to -53, was stimulated by EGF but was not inhibited by somatostatin. Thus, somatostatin inhibits EGF-stimulated gastrin gene transcription by a mechanism other than by interfering with cell signals elicited by the EGF receptor. Since the 82 GASCAT is inhibited by somatostatin, this result also implies that sequences adjacent to the EGF response element contain a cis-regulatory element mediating transcriptional inhibition by somatostatin. This cis-element was located using gastrin reporter genes comprising sequential segments of the human gastrin promoter sequence from the transcriptional start site to -82 in the 5′-flanking DNA. Gastrin oligonucleotide constructs lacking the D oligonucleotide (gatcCATATGGCAGGGTA), located at -82 to -69 in the 5′-flanking DNA, were not inhibited by somatostatin, indicating that a somatostatin inhibitory cis-element is located between -82 and -69 in the 5′-flanking DNA of the human gastrin promoter.