Identification of integrin β6 gene promoter and analysis of its transcription regulation in colon cancer cells

BACKGROUND: The integrin β6 gene, which is expressed in epithelial cancer, plays a pivotal role in various aspects of cancer progression. The present research for integrin β6 regulation mainly focuses on the post-transcription and translation related regulation mechanism and its role in tumorigenesis. The mechanisms of how the integrin β6 gene is regulated transcriptionally, and the promoter and transcription factors responsible for basic transcription of integrin β6 gene remain unknown. AIM: To clone and characterize the integrin β6 promoter. METHODS: Software analysis was used to predict the region of integrin β6 promoter. Luciferase reporter plasmids, which contained the integrin β6 promoter, were constructed. Element deletion analysis was performed to identify the location of core promoter and binding sites for transcription factors. RESULTS: The regulatory elements for the transcription of the integrin β6 gene were located between -286 and -85 and contained binding sites for transcription factors such as STAT3 and Ets-1. CONCLUSION: For the first time, we found the region of β6 core promoter and demonstrated the binding sites for transcription factors such as Ets-1 and STAT3, which are important for integrin β6 promoter transcription activity. These findings are important for investigating the mechanism of integrin β6 activation in cancer progression.