The promoter of human acetylcholinesterase is activated by a cyclic adenosine 3 `,5 `-monophosphate-dependent pathway in cultured NG108-15 neuroblastoma cells

Different transcription elements have been proposed to play a role in the regulation of acetylcholinesterase (AChE) in muscle and neuron, and cyclic adenosine 3',5'-monophosphate (cAMP)-dependent pathway is one of them. In order to test the possible role of cAMP in regulating the expression of human AChE, an similar to 2.2 kb DNA fragment of human AChE promoter was linked up stream to a luciferase reporter. The chimeric DNA was transfected into cultured NG108-15 neuroblastoma cells. Application of Bt(2)-cAMP and forskolin increased the promoter driven luciferase activity over 2-fold in the transfected NG108-15 cells; the increase was parallel to the activation of endogenous AChE protein and enzymatic activity. The intracellular cAMP level was increased in the G(alpha sQL) (constitutively active mutant of G alpha(s)) cDNA transfected NG108-15 cells. The G alpha(sQL) cDNA transfected cells showed an increase of over 10-fold in the luciferase activity. In addition, a constitutively active mutant of activating transcription factor-1 (ATF-1) was able to turn on human AChE promoter by similar to 4-fold when they were co-expressed in the neuroblastoma cells. These results support the involvement of a cAMP-dependent pathway in regulating the expression of human AChE. (C) 2000 Elsevier Science Ireland Ltd. All rights reserved