Vitronectin in a cell-adhesion molecule whose expression is temporally and spatially regulated in vivo, but whose regulatory mechanism of transcription is unknown. In this study, we characterized the mouse vitronectin gene promoter. Luciferase expression vectors cloned the successive 5'- or 3-deletions of the 5'-flanking region upstream of the luciferase gene and were transfected into the human hepatoma cell line HepG2. The assay of luciferase activity in the transfected cells revealed that a 38 base pair (bp)-element (positions + 3 to + 40) displays promoter activity. A consensus sequence consisting of a TATA box and initiator is shown around the transcription initiation site of the mouse vetronectin gene, but the GC box is not shown. Site-directed or deleted mutagenesis against a consensus sequence of TATA box and initiator could not abolish the promoter activity. These results induce that the putative TATA box and initiator are not involved in the promoter activity, and that the Vitronectin promoter lacks the TATA box, initiator and GC box. To characterize trans-acting factors involved in promoter activity, a DNA fragment (position - 74 to +95) was subjected to gel shift assay using nuclear proteins extracted from HepG2 cells. One shifted band was detected by the gel shift assay, suggesting that a nuclear protein binds to the promoter region. Results of the DNase I foot printing assay and gel shift assay demonstrate that the nuclear proteins can bind to the 38 bp-element, which has promoter activity. The nuclear protein is a putative trans-acting factor involved in transcription initiation.