[Identification and clone of human Alzheimer's disease related gene nicastrin promoter].

Objective: To identify the promoter of human nicastrin (NCT) gene, a major component of gamma-secretase which is closely related with pathogenesis of Alzheimer's disease.

Methods: Promoter of human Alzheimer's disease related gene, nicastrin, a 1768 bp fragment was firstly isolated from human genomic DNA by PCR. This fragment's 3 flanking end was 4 bp upstream to the start codon ATG (+1) of the gene. This fragment was used as template, a series of deleted fragments were amplified and constructed to the pGL3-Enhancer plasmid with the artificial designed linkers. The relative activity of their promoter in Hela cells was studied by dual-luciferase assay.

Results: The 420 bp fragment showed the strongest activity, and the 237 bp fragment was the minimal fragment in length with activity.

Conclusion: The promoter of NCT is located at -432/-133 region upstream the translational start codon, while its basal promoter is between -359/-90 that drives the transcription of reporter gene in Hela cells.