To understand the molecular mechanisms underlying the regulation of hepatocyte growth factor (HGF) gene expression and to define the DNA sequences essential for its cell-type specific and inducible expression, we have isolated and characterized the 5'-flanking region of the HGF gene. A genomic clone containing 2.8 kilobases of the 5'-flanking region of the HGF gene has been isolated from a mouse liver genomic library. Sequence analysis showed that the promoter region of the mouse HGF gene contains a noncanonical TATA box (ATAAA). Further analysis of the 5'-flanking region revealed a number of putative regulatory elements, such as four interleukin-6 response elements (IL-6 RE), two potential binding sites for NF-IL6, a TGF-beta inhibitory element (TIE), a cAMP response element (CRE), two estrogen response elements (ERE) including one located in the first intron, a potential vitamin D response element (VDRE) which overlaps a chicken ovalbumin upstream promoter (COUP) transcription factor binding element, two liver-specific transcription factor (C/EBP) binding sites, and a B cell- and macrophage-specific transcriptional factor binding site (PU.1/ETS). To determine the location of sites that may be critical for the function of the HGF promoter, we constructed a series of chimeric genes containing variable regions of the 5'-flanking sequence of HGF gene and the coding region for chloramphenicol acetyltransferase (CAT). Transient transfection of chimeric plasmids demonstrated that the mouse HGF gene promoter containing 70 base pairs of the 5'-flanking sequences were active in mouse fibroblast NIH 3T3 cells and in human endometrial carcinoma RL95-2 cells. This basal transcription activity of the HGF promoter was modulated in NIH 3T3 and RL95-2 cells by multiple upstream elements. Three positive elements were identified at positions -2848 to -2674, -1386 to -1231, and -699 to -274, and three negative candidate elements were mapped to positions -1652 to -1386, -964 to -699, and -274 to -70, respectively. By the combination of a series of 5'-end deletion and internal deletion, a cell type-specific negative regulatory element in RL95-2 cells was localized to the nucleotide position -964 to -699. Moreover, the reporter plasmid containing interleukin 6 (IL-6) response element was responsive to IL-6 stimulation in stably transfected NIH 3T3 cells. Our findings revealed a complex pattern of transcriptional regulation of the mouse HGF gene expression.