Role of hepatocyte nuclear factor-4α in transcriptional regulation of C1qTNF-related protein 5 in the liver

Recently, we found that C1qTNF-related protein 5 (CTRP5) is involved in glucose and lipid metabolism. However, the transcriptional regulation of CTRP5 is largely unknown. Here we demonstrate the mechanism by which the CTRP5 gene is transcriptionally activated in the liver. CTRP5 is activated by HNF4α via the region −206/−167 of the human CTRP5 promoter. Deletion of this region significantly decreased HNF4α-induced CTRP5 promoter activity. Gel shift and chromatin immunoprecipitation analysis showed that HNF4α directly binds to HNF4α-responsive element at the region −202/−177 of the CTRP5 promoter. Taken together, these results show that hepatocyte nuclear factor-4α is involved in transcriptional regulation of CTRP5 in the liver.