Transcriptional roles of nuclear factor kappa B and nuclear factor-interleukin-6 in the tumor necrosis factor alpha-dependent induction of cyclooxygenase-2 in MC3T3-E1 cells.

When a mouse osteoblastic cell line MC3T3-E1 was cultured in the presence of tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF alpha), the release of prostaglandin E2 and the cyclooxygenase activity increased in a dose- and time-dependent manner. The increase of the enzyme activity was attributed mostly to the induction of cyclooxygenase-2 rather than cyclooxygenase-1 as judged by the inhibitory effect of NS398, Western blotting, and Northern blotting. In this system we attempted to elucidate the transcriptional regulation of the cyclooxygenase-2 gene. As examined by the luciferase assay, two positive regulatory regions (-186 to -131 and -512 to -385 base pairs) were found in the 5'-flanking promoter region of the mouse cyclooxygenase-2 gene in the TNF alpha-stimulated cells. The former included putative NF-IL6 (C/EBP beta) and AP2 elements, and the latter contained the NF kappa B motif. A DNA probe including the NF-IL6 and AP2 sites gave positive bands upon electrophoretic mobility shift assay using the nuclear extracts of MC3T3-E1 cells. The bands were supershifted by the addition of anti-NF-IL6 antibody but not by anti-AP2 antibody. A probe including the NF kappa B site also gave positive bands, which were supershifted by anti-NF kappa B p50 and p65 antibodies. Furthermore, when the motif of NF-IL6 or NF kappa B or both was subjected to point mutation, the luciferase activity was markedly reduced. These data suggested a potential role of both NF-IL6 and NF kappa B in the induction of cyclooxygenase-2 by TNF alpha.