The Wilms' tumor suppressor gene WT1 encodes a transcription factor of critical importance in early kidney development. This project will examine regulation of the human WT1 gene, using its promoter to identify cis regulatory DNA sequences and the corresponding transcriptional regulatory proteins that bind to them that are most important for WT1 expression in kidney development. This promoter analysis approach is well recognized in developmental biology and allows antecedent transcriptional events to be uncovered. Such studies may also shed light on embryonic kidney-,kidney epithelial-, and/or podocyte-specific gene expression, and thereby suggest alternative treatments, such as gene therapy, for acute and chronic glomerular disease.
| Cohen, H T; Zhou, M; Welsh, A M et al. (1999) An important von Hippel-Lindau tumor suppressor domain mediates Sp1-binding and self-association. Biochem Biophys Res Commun 266:43-50 |
| Knebelmann, B; Ananth, S; Cohen, H T et al. (1998) Transforming growth factor alpha is a target for the von Hippel-Lindau tumor suppressor. Cancer Res 58:226-31 |
| Mukhopadhyay, D; Knebelmann, B; Cohen, H T et al. (1997) The von Hippel-Lindau tumor suppressor gene product interacts with Sp1 to repress vascular endothelial growth factor promoter activity. Mol Cell Biol 17:5629-39 |
| Cohen, H T; Bossone, S A; Zhu, G et al. (1997) Sp1 is a critical regulator of the Wilms' tumor-1 gene. J Biol Chem 272:2901-13 |
