Objective To elucidate the effect of interleukin-1β （IL-1β） on human growth hormone （hGH） gene expression in a rat somatotropic pituitary cell line MtT/S. Methods Stably transfected MtT/S cells were firstly established by transfecting 484-Luc1 plasmid which contained hGH gene promoter -484 to +30 bp and luciferase reporter gene. The effect of IL-1β on hGH gene expression was determined by assaying the luciferase activities. RT-PCR method was also used to determine whether IL-1 recepor mRNA was expressed in MtT/S cells. Results The 103 U/mL IL-1β stimulated secretion and synthesis of GH

and promoted the 5’-promoter activity of GH gene in stably transfected MtT/SGL cells with the action of 1.38 times above the control. Among inhibitors of signaling transduction pathways

mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase （MAPKK/MEK） inhibitor PD98059 （40 μmol/L） and p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase （MAPK） inhibitor SB203580 （5 μmol/L） completely blocked the stimulatory effect of IL-1β

and phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase （PI3-K） inhibitor LY294002 partly abolished the effect of IL-1β. Western blot analysis further confirmed the activation of phosphorylated MEK and p38 MAPK in MtT/SGL cells. Neither over-expression of Pit-1 nor inhibition of Pit-1 expression affected induction of hGH promoter activity by IL-1β. A series of deletion constructs of hGH promoter were created to identify the DNA sequence that mediated the effect of IL-1β

and results showed that the stimulatory effect of IL-1β was abolished following deletion of the -196 to -132 bp fragment. Conclusions IL-1β promotes GH secretion and synthesis in rat MtT/S somatotroph cells. The stimulatory effect of IL-1β on hGH gene promoter appears to require the activation of MEK

p38 MAPK

PI3-K

and a fragment of promoter sequence that spans the –196 to –132 bp of the gene

but it may be unlinked with Pit-1 protein.