Identification of constitutive androstane receptor and glucocorticoid receptor binding sites in the CYP2C19 promoter

CYP2C19 is an important human drug-metabolizing enzyme that metabolizes a number of clinically used drugs including the antiulcer drug omeprazole, the anxiolytic drug diazepam, the beta-blocker propranolol, the antimalarial drug proguanil, certain antidepressants and barbiturates, and the prototype substrate S-mephenytoin. Previous studies show that compounds such as rifampicin and dexamethasone induce CYP2C19 both in vivo in humans and in vitro in human hepatocytes. This study examines the transcriptional regulation of CYP2C19. Analysis of the CYP2C19 promoter revealed a single constitutive androstane receptor (CAR) binding site (CAR-RE; -1891/-1876 bp) and a glucocorticoid-responsive element (GRE; -1750/-1736 bp). Gel-shift assays showed that CAR-RE binds CAR and pregnane X receptor (PXR). Cotransfection with hCAR, mCAR, or hPXR in HepG2 cells up-regulated transcription of CYP2C19 promoter constructs, whereas mutation of the -1891-bp CAR-RE abolished up-regulation. Expression with hCAR also up-regulated endogenous CYP2C19 mRNA content in HepG2 cells. Androstenol repressed the mCAR-mediated constitutive activation of the CYP2C19 promoter in HepG2 cells, whereas the potent mCAR ligand 1,4-bis[2-3,5-dichloropyridyloxyl)] benzene derepressed this response. Rifampicin produced a modest increase in promoter activity in cells cotransfected with hPXR. Dexamethasone activated the -2.7-kb CYP2C19 promoter constructs in HepG2 cells only in the presence of cotransfected glucocorticoid receptor (GR), whereas the GR antagonist mifepristone inhibits this response. Mutation of the GRE abolishes dexamethasone activation. This is the first study to identify nuclear receptor binding sites (CAR/PXR and GR) in the CYP2C19 promoter and to suggest that these receptors may up-regulate CYP2C19 constitutively and possibly its response to drugs.