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Contact: NCI Office of Communications, 301-496-6641; fax: 301-496-0846, ncipressofficers@mail.nih.gov

Study Identifies Mechanism of Oltipraz Chemoprevention
The chemopreventive drug oltipraz is thought to exert its protective effects through the induction of glutathione-S-transferase (GST), which in turn detoxifies many chemical carcinogens. To identify the molecular signals that stimulate this induction, Keon Wook Kang and Sang Geon Kim, Ph.D., of Seoul National University, and their colleagues investigated the role of the CCAAT/enhancer binding protein (C/EBP) in oltipraz induction of GSTA2 (alpha form) and identified enhancer elements responsible for this induction in rat liver cells. The authors found that oltipraz activates C/EBPß, whose nuclear translocation activates the C/EBP binding site in the GSTA2 gene. They also found that the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase pathway regulates nuclear translocation of C/EBPß.

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Contact: Linda Wang
jncimedia@oupjournals.org
301-841-1287
Journal of the National Cancer Institute
31-Dec-2002