Transcription factor GATA4 drives RNA polymerase III-directed transcription and transformed cell proliferation through a filamin A/GATA4/SP1 pathway.

RNA polymerase III (pol III) products play fundamental roles in a variety of cellular processes, including protein synthesis and cancer cell proliferation. In addition, dysregulation of pol III-directed transcription closely correlates with tumorigenesis. It is therefore of interest to identify novel pathways or factors governing pol III-directed transcription. Here, we show that transcription factor (TF) GATA binding protein 4 (GATA4) expression in SaOS2 cells was stimulated by the silencing of filamin A (FLNA), a repressor of pol III-directed transcription, suggesting that GATA4 is potentially associated with the regulation of pol III-directed transcription. Indeed, we show that GATA4 expression positively correlates with pol III-mediated transcription and tumor cell proliferation. Mechanistically, we found that GATA4 depletion inhibits the occupancies of the pol III transcription machinery factors at the loci of pol III target genes by reducing expression of both TFIIIB subunit TFIIB-related factor 1 and TFIIIC subunit general transcription factor 3C subunit 2 (GTF3C2). GATA4 has been shown to activate specificity factor 1 (Sp1) gene transcription by binding to the Sp1 gene promoter, and Sp1 has been confirmed to activate pol III gene transcription by directly binding to both Brf1 and Gtf3c2 gene promoters. Thus, the findings from this study suggest that GATA4 links FLNA and Sp1 signaling to form an FLNA/GATA4/Sp1 axis to modulate pol III-directed transcription and transformed cell proliferation. Taken together, these results provide novel insights into the regulatory mechanism of pol III-directed transcription.