There is evidence that hormone regulation of cellular oncogenes plays an essential role in human cancer. The c-H-ras gene is implicated through both mutation and abnormal gene expression in many types of human cancer. Computer scanning of this gene has revealed two putative hormone response motifs: A possible Glucocorticoid Response Element (GRE) at position 1261 of the first intron of the H-ras1 gene and a putative Estrogen Response Element (ERE), at position 3007 of the fourth intron of the gene. In DNA binding assays, using the HeLa and LATK-cell lines, we showed specific binding of the corresponding receptors at both putative H-ras glucocorticoid and estrogen response sequences, suggesting that hormones could be contributing to H-ras transcriptional regulation through interaction with their corresponding Hormone Response Elements (HREs).

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