The Regulation of Downstream Target Gene AP-2γ by Transcription Factor OCT-4

Abstract

In recent years,OCT-4 and AP-2γ have been widely used as clinical markers of testicular germ cell tumors.Transcription factor OCT-4,which plays an important role in embryonic development,gives full play to a variety of biological functions in different developmental periods and differentiations.The effect of OCT-4 is realized through the regulation of the target genes.In this study,we found OCT-4 binding sites within the sequence of AP-2γ promoter region by a variety of bionemerics.AP-2γ,a novel target gene of OCT-4,was identified by chromatin immunoprecipitation(ChIP)-PCR.A combination of sequence analysis,reporter gene assays,Western blot,immunofluorescence assay and mouse cryptorchidism model experiment further confirmed that AP-2γ was the target gene of OCT-4.OCT-4 inhibited the transcriptive activity of AP-2γ.The expression of AP-2γ gene was confirmed to be significantly altered by silencing or overexpression of OCT-4.This new discovery is conductive to study the malignant process of germ cell tumors at the molecular level.