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Parathyroid hormone induces collagenase-3 gene transcription in rat osteoblastic cells. Here, we characterized the basal, parathyroid hormone regulatory regions of the rat collagenase-3 gene and the proteins involved in this regulation. The minimal parathyroid hormone-responsive region was observed to be between base pairs ؊38 and ؊148. Deleted and mutated constructs showed that the activator protein-1 and the runt domain binding sites are both required for basal expression and parathyroid hormone activation of this gene. The runt domain site is identical to an osteoblast-specific element-2 or acute myelogenous leukemia binding sequence in the mouse and rat osteocalcin genes, respectively. Overexpression of an acute myelogenous leukemia-1 repressor protein inhibited parathyroid hormone activation of the promoter, indicating a requirement of acute myelogenous leukemiarelated factor(s) for this activity. Overexpression of c-Fos, c-Jun, osteoblast-specific factor-2, and core binding factor-␤ increased the response to parathyroid hormone of the wild type (؊148) promoter but not with mutation of either or both the activator protein-1 and runt domain binding sites. In summary, we conclude that there is a cooperative interaction of acute myelogenous leukemia/ polyomavirus enhancer-binding protein-2-related factor(s) binding to the runt domain binding site with members of the activator protein-1 transcription factor family binding to the activator protein-1 site in the rat collagenase-3 gene in response to parathyroid hormone in osteoblastic cells. Parathyroid hormone (PTH)1 is an essential regulator of calcium homeostasis (1). In addition to kidney, its major target tissue is bone, the body's main calcium store. While PTH increases serum calcium partly by activating osteoclasts, these cells do not display PTH receptors. Instead, PTH exerts a direct effect on osteoblasts, causing them to cease synthesis of type I collagen (2, 3), the major organic component of bone. Most relevant to the current study, we and others have demonstrated that, in vitro, PTH can stimulate the osteoblastic synthesis of interstitial collagenase, the enzyme that specifically degrades fibrillar collagens (4, 5). Although collagenase synthesis and secretion by osteoblasts has been well documented, the signaling mechanism through which PTH stimulates its expression in this cell type is not fully understood. We have employed the UMR 106-01 (UMR) rat osteosarcoma cell line to investigate PTH regulation of collagenase-3 gene expression in osteoblasts. This cell line displays classical osteoblastic markers including PTH receptors, type I collagen, and high alkaline phosphatase expression. Most importantly to the present study, UMR cells decrease collagen synthesis and begin production of interstitial collagenase in response to PTH treatment. Previously, we reported that UMR cell collagenase induction by PTH is due to an increase in transcription and is a secondary response since it requires de novo protein synthesis (6). In the present work, we have di...

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Previously we showed that the activator protein-1 site and the runt domain binding site in the collagenase-3 promoter act cooperatively in response to parathyroid hormone (PTH) in the rat osteoblastic osteosarcoma cell line, UMR 106-01. Our results of the expression pattern of core binding factor ␣1 (Cbfa1), which binds to the runt domain site, indicated that there is no change in the levels of Cbfa1 protein or RNA under either control conditions or after PTH treatment. The importance of posttranslational modification of Cbfa1 in the signaling pathway for PTH-induced collagenase-3 promoter activity was analyzed. PTH stimulation of collagenase-3 promoter activity was completely abrogated by protein kinase A (PKA) inhibition. To determine the role of PKA activity with respect to Cbfa1 activation (in addition to its known activity of phosphorylating cAMP-response element-binding protein to enhance c-fos promoter activity), we utilized the heterologous Gal4 transcription system. PTH stimulated the transactivation of activation domain-3 in Cbfa1 through the PKA site. In vitro phosphorylation studies indicated that the PKA site in the wild type activation domain-3 is a substrate for phosphorylation by PKA. Thus, we demonstrate that PTH induces a PKA-dependent transactivation of Cbfa1, and this transactivation is required for collagenase-3 promoter activity in UMR cells.

The vitamin D receptor (VDR) forms a heterodimeric complex with retinoid X receptor (RXR) and binds to vitamin D-responsive promoter elements to regulate the transcription of specific genes or gene networks. The precise mechanism of transcriptional regulation by the VDR⅐RXR heterodimer is not well understood, but it may involve interactions of VDR⅐RXR with transcriptional coactivator or corepressor proteins. Here, a yeast twohybrid strategy was used to isolate proteins that selectively interacted with VDR and other nuclear receptors. One cDNA clone designated NCoA-62, encoded a 62,000-Da protein that is highly related to BX42, a Drosophila melanogaster nuclear protein involved in ecdysone-stimulated gene expression. Yeast two-hybrid studies and in vitro protein-protein interaction assays using glutathione S-transferase fusion proteins demonstrated that NCoA-62 formed a direct protein-protein contact with the ligand binding domain of VDR. Coexpression of NCoA-62 in a vitamin D-responsive transient gene expression system augmented 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D 3 -activated transcription, but it had little or no effect on basal transcription or gal4-VP16-activated transcription. NCoA-62 also interacted with retinoid receptors, and its expression enhanced retinoic acid-, estrogen-, and glucocorticoid-mediated gene expression. These data indicate that NCoA-62 may be classified into an emerging set of transcriptional coactivator proteins that function to facilitate vitamin D-and other nuclear receptor-mediated transcriptional pathways.1 is mediated through an intracellular receptor termed the vitamin D receptor (VDR). VDR is a member of the superfamily of nuclear receptors for steroid hormones, and it acts as a ligand-induced transcription factor that binds to specific DNA response elements in the promoter region of vitamin D-responsive genes (1-3). Vitamin D response elements (VDREs) consist of either exact or imperfect direct repeats of the hexonucleotide sequence, GGGTGA, generally separated by a three-nucleotide spacer. High affinity binding of VDR to VDREs requires an additional nuclear factor that is most likely retinoid X receptor (RXR), the nuclear receptor for 9-cis-retinoic acid (4 -6). Thus, VDR and RXR heterodimerize to form a complex that binds with high affinity to VDREs, and it is the VDR⅐RXR heterodimer that may be the functional transcription factor in vitamin D-mediated gene expression.The mechanism that links the heterodimeric receptor complex bound at the DNA response element to the transcriptional complex is not well understood, but it is presumed to involve protein-protein interactions between the heterodimer and other transcriptional coactivator proteins. Recently, a number of putative coactivator and corepressor proteins have been described for several members of the nuclear receptor superfamily (7). A general property of these transcriptional cofactors is their ability to selectively interact with liganded nuclear receptors and modulate their transcriptional activity. Putative coactivators include s...