STRUCTURAL AND FUNCTIONAL-ANALYSIS OF THE PROMOTER REGION OF MTS1 GENE

The mts1 gene is specifically expressed in metastatic tumors but not in non-metastatic counterparts. The gene was cloned from both mouse and human sources. The 5'-flanking regions of the mts1 gene from both sources were sequenced, revealing a 135 base pair region of high homology in the vicinity of the TATA box. The 5' region of the mts1 gene was also observed to have high degree of homology with some known promoter and enhancer sequencies. The results of our transient transfection assays, in conjunction with those obtained from in vivo and in vitro footprinting of the promoter region, show no evidence of cis-control elements important for transcriptional regulation of mts1 gene. mts1 was found to be hypermethylated in CSML-0 cells and in the tissue types that do not express the gene or do that only at low levels. The possible role of methylation in progression of the nonmetastatic CSML-0 adenosarcoma cell line, towards the metastatic CSML-100 adenosarcoma cell line will be discussed.