Aly/ REF, a factor for mRNA transport, activates RH gene promoter function.

The rhesus (Rh) blood group antigens are of considerable importance in transfusion medicine as well as in newborn or autoimmune hemolytic diseases due to their high antigenicity. We identified a major DNaseI hypersensitive site at the 5' flanking regions of both RHD and RHCE exon 1. A 34 bp fragment located at -191 to -158 from a translation start position, and containing the TCCCCTCCC sequence, was involved in enhancing promoter activity, which was assessed by luciferase reporter gene assay.