Selective repression of low-density lipoprotein receptor expression by SP600125: coupling of histone H3-Ser10 phosphorylation and Sp1 occupancy.

In this study, we show that exposure of human hepatocellular HepG2 cells to SP600125 rapidly and dramatically reduced global histone H3-Ser10 phosphorylation, without significantly affecting the global acetylation of neighboring lysines. The loss of phosphorylation is not due to changes in cell cycle distribution and/or apoptosis and is mediated independent of either p46/54(JNK) or MSK-1/2 inhibition. Moreover, SP600125 repressed the basal expression of the endogenous LDL receptor in a gene-specific manner, whereas the expression of squalene synthase, sterol response element-binding protein-1, and beta-actin was not altered by SP600125.