Identification and characterization of rat RhoA gene promoter

Rhoa upregulation has been suggested in bronchial smooth muscles (bsms) of asthmatic rats. here,we cloned/characterized the 5′-promoter region of the rat rhoa. a transcription-initiation site was identified at 66-bp upstream of the reference sequence,genbank-bc061732. luciferase assay using interleukin-13 (il-13)-stimulated cells revealed a significant promoter activity at 238- to 166-bp upstream of the transcription-initiation site,which contains a signal transducer and activation of transcription (stat) 6-binding region. the il-13-induced increase in luciferase activity was inhibited by a stat6 inhibitor,as1517499,or a janus kinases (jaks) inhibitor,jak inhibitor-i,but not by tyrphostin-ag490,whi-p131,or tyrphostin-ag9 (selective jak2,jak3,and tyk2 inhibitors,respectively). thus,rat bsm rhoa expression may have causal relation to the il-13-jak1-stat6 signaling. ©2010 the japanese pharmacological society.