Down-regulation of hepatic lipase expression by elevation of cAMP in human hepatoma but not adrenocortical cells

Expression of hepatic lipase (HL) in the liver is reduced during prolonged fasting. This effect is mainly mediated via catecholamines, which signal through elevation of Cai2+ as well as cAMP. We have studied the effect of cAMP on HL expression in cell culture. Overnight incubation of HepG2 cells with 10–300 μM 8-bromo-cyclic AMP resulted in a dose-dependent, up to 50% reduction in secretion of HL, but had no effect on secretion of α1-antitrypsin or overall protein synthesis. HL mRNA levels were decreased 1.5 fold, as determined by semi-quantitative and real-time RT-PCR. In HepG2 cells transiently transfected with human HL (−685/+13) or rat HL (−446/+9) promoter–reporter constructs, cAMP induced a similar dose-dependent suppression of HL promoter activity. cAMP responsiveness in HepG2 cells was mediated by a conserved 10-bp response element at −45/−36, that represents a potential binding site for CCAAT/enhancer-binding protein beta (C/EBPβ). cAMP reduced expression of the 45 kDa C/EBPβ protein and binding of C/EBPβ to the proximal promoter region of the human HL gene by 50%, as determined by immunoblotting and chromatin immunoprecipitation assay, respectively. In human H295R adrenocortical cells, cAMP failed to suppress HL promoter activity, and only slightly reduced C/EBPβ expression. We conclude that the fall in HL expression during prolonged fasting may be mediated through elevation of cAMP and lowering of C/EBPβ expression.