Genome-wide identification of AP-2α by ChIP-chip in breast cancer cell line MCF7

The AP-2 family of transcription factors is involved in the regulation of embryonic development, cell proliferation and tumorigenesis. To date, five members of the AP-2 family have been identified: AP-2α, AP-2β, AP-2γ, AP-2δ and AP-2ε. All AP-2 proteins bind as homo- or heterodimers to the consensus sequence of 5'- GCCNNNGGC-3' and directly regulate transcription of their target genes. Among these, AP-2α is the best-characterized gene. We performed chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) and DNA microarray (chip) analysis to identify the transcriptional targets of AP-2α in living MCF7 cells.