Post-transcriptional Regulation of Chicken ccn2 Gene by Interaction between RNA cis-element and trans-factor during Differentiation of Chondrocytes

CCN2/CTGF is a multifunctional growth factor. Previous studies have revealed that CCN2 plays important roles in the growth and differentiation of chondrocytes, and that the 3′-untranslated region (3′-UTR) of ccn2 mRNA contains a cis-repressive element of gene expression. In the present review, it is shown that chicken ccn2 mRNA is post-transcriptionally regulated depending not only on the differentiation stages of chondrocytes, but also on the stimulation of growth factors. In addition, the minimal repressive cis-element of the 3′-UTR of chicken ccn2 mRNA was located within an area between 50 and 100 bases from the polyadenylation tail. Moreover, the stability of ccn2 mRNA was correlated with the interaction between the cis-element and a 40-kDa-putative-shuttle-trans-factor in the nuclei and cytoplasm. In summary, these results suggest that gene expression of ccn2 mRNA during endochondral ossification is properly regulated, at least in part, by the changing stability of the mRNA, which arises from the interaction between the RNA cis-element and putative trans-factor.