Molecular mechanisms involved in transcriptional activation of the human Sia-α2,3-Gal-β1,4-GlcNAc-R:α2,8-sialyltransferase (hST8Sia III) gene induced by KCl in human glioblastoma cells

In the present study, we have shown that KCl known as an inducer for differentiation of neuronal cells increases the human Sia-α2,3-Gal-β1,4-GlcNAc-R:α2,8-sialyltransferase (hST8Sia III) gene transcription via phosphoinositide 3 kinase (PI-3K) in glioblastoma U-87MG cells. The induction of hST8Sia III by KCl is regulated at the transcriptional level in a dose- and time-dependent manner as evidenced by reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). To elucidate the mechanism underlying the regulation of hST8Sia III gene expression in U-87MG cells induced by KCl, we characterized the promoter region of the hST8Sia III gene. Functional analysis of the 5′-flanking region of the hST8Sia III gene by the transient expression method showed that the -1194 to -816 region functions as the KCl-inducible promoter in U-87MG cells. Furthermore, as evidenced by Western blot analysis and RT-PCR, KCl-induced expression of hST8Sia III gene was dependent on the PI-3K signal transduction pathway during the neuronal differentiation of U-87 cells, as an increase in β-tubulin III known as a neuronal differentiation marker was observed. In KCl-depolarization on U-87 cells, the PI-3K-dependent promoter activation at the -1194 to -816 region up-regulated expression of hST8Sia III gene. These results suggest that the expression of hST8Sia III gene via the PI-3K signaling pathway is enhanced during KCl-induced differentiation of U-87 cells by increasing expression of β-tubulin III.