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Estrogen-Enhanced Gene Expression of Lipoprotein Lipase in Heart Is Antagonized by Progesterone

Laboratories of Signal Transduction (D.L., A.D., E.M.), and Reproductive and Developmental Toxicology (K.S.K.), National Institute of Environmental Health Sciences, National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services, Research Triangle Park, North Carolina 27709; and Vascular Medicine Branch (A.D., E.M.), National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute, National Institutes of Health, Department of Health and Human Services, Bethesda, Maryland 20892

Address all correspondence and requests for reprints to: Dr. Elizabeth Murphy, National Institutes of Health Vascular Medicine Branch, Room 7N112, 10 Center Drive, Bethesda, Maryland 20892. E-mail: murphy1{at}niehs.nih.gov.

Although estrogen has effects on the heart, little is known regarding which genes in the heart are directly responsive to estrogen. We have shown previously that lipoprotein lipase (LPL) expression was increased in female hearts compared with male hearts. To test whether LPL gene expression in heart is regulated by estrogen, we perfused mouse hearts from ovariectomized females with 100 nM 17β-estradiol or vehicle for 2 h, after which hearts were frozen, and RNA was isolated. The SYBR green real-time PCR method was used to detect LPL gene expression. We found that addition of 17β-estradiol to hearts from ovariectomized females resulted in a significant increase in LPL mRNA. This estrogen effect on LPL gene expression in mouse heart can be blocked by the estrogen receptor (ER) antagonist ICI 182,780 or by progesterone. We also identified a potential estrogen receptor element (ERE) enhancer sequence located in the first intron of the mouse LPL gene. The potential ERE sequence was linked to a TATA-luciferase (LUC) reporter plasmid in HeLa cells. Both ER and ERβ stimulated strong activity on the heterologous promoter reporter in Hela cells upon estrogen addition. Both ER and ERβ activities on the LPL ERE reporter were abrogated by the ER antagonist ICI 182,780. Progesterone also dose dependently inhibited the estrogen-mediated increase in LPL ERE reporter activity. These results show that heart LPL is an estrogen-responsive gene exhibiting an intronic regulatory sequence.