A human 8-oxoguanine-DNA glycosylase (hOGG1) is the main enzyme that repairs 8-oxoG, which is a critical mutagenic lesion. There is a great deal of interest in the up-or down-regulation of OGG1 expression after DNA damage. In this study, we investigated the effect of a DNA-alkylating agent, methylmethane sulfonate (MMS), on hOGG1 expression level and found that MMS treatment resulted in an increase in the functional hOGG1 expression in HCT116 cells. A region between ؊121 and ؊61 of the hOGG1 promoter was found to be crucial for this induction by MMS. Site-directed mutations of the two inverted CCAAT motifs substantially abrogated the induction of the hOGG1 promoter as a result of MMS treatment. In addition, the NF-YA protein (binding to the inverted CCAAT box) was induced after exposing cells to MMS. Moreover, gel shift and supershift analyses with the nuclear extracts prepared from HCT116 cells identified NF-YA as the transcription factor interacting with the inverted CCAAT box. Mutations of the inverted CCAAT box either prevented the binding of this factor or abolished its activation as a result of MMS treatment. Finally, this study showed that hOGG1-expressing HCT116 cells exhibited increased hOGG1 repair activity and resistance to MMS. Overall, these results demonstrate that MMS can up-regulate hOGG1 expression through the induction of the transcription factor, NF-YA, and increased transcription level of the hOGG1 gene correlates with an increase in enzyme activity providing functional protection from MMS.Reactive oxygen species (ROS) 1 causes a variety of damage to DNA, including oxidized bases, abasic (AP) sites, strand breaks, and DNA-protein cross-links (1-6). Among oxidative lesions, 8-oxoguanine (8-oxoG) is one of the major base lesions formed after oxidative attack to DNA (7). Relatively large quantities of 8-oxoG are produced in mammalian cells, either as a byproduct of the normal oxidative metabolism, or as a result of exogenous sources of ROS, such as ionizing radiation, single oxygen sensitizer dyes, and redox-active organic molecules (8). 8-oxoG preferentially mispairs with adenosine during replication and thereby gives rise to G:C 3 T:A transversion mutations (9 -12). Because of its persistent generation, relative abundance, and potent mutagenicity, 8-oxoG is believed to represent a major source of spontaneous mutagenesis in all aerobic cells. In order to prevent the mutagenic effect of 8-oxoG, the bacterium, Escherichia coli, contains a GO system (13-15). The bacteria GO system consists of three proteins: MutM (also known as the Fpg protein), a DNA glycosylase/lyase that recognizes 8-oxoG:C and catalyzes the excision of 8-oxoG (16, 17); MutY, which is a DNA glycosylase that recognizes 8-oxoG:A and catalyzes the excision of A (18); and MutT, specific phosphatase that cleaves 8-oxo-dGTP (19). In mammalian cells, the main defense enzyme against the mutagenic effects of 8-oxoG in cellular DNA is 8-oxoguanine-DNA glycosylase (OGG1), which is structurally unrelated but functionally similar to formami...