Figure 4.

Identification of a positive androgen response element in the hTERT distal promoter. CV1 cells lacking endogenous functional AR and other steroid receptors were co-transfected with AR and pCMV lacZ. The obtained values were normalized to β-galactosidase activity after being co-transfected pCMV-lacZ. e.v.—empty vector; R1881 (10 nM); DHT (10 nM). (A) Overview of the hTERT deletion constructs used for the reporter assays. The sections highlighted in green or red color represent the promoter construct activities that mediate an enhanced or repressed reporter activity by androgen treatment, respectively. s—sense; as—antisense. (B–D) Luciferase assays with the indicated hTERT promoter regions spanning the −4 kb to −1 kb and distal promoter region constructs. * p ≤ 0.05, *** p ≤ 0.001.