Retinoid-related orphan receptor α (RORα) (NR1F1) is a member of the nuclear receptor superfamily whose biological functions are largely unknown. Since staggerer mice, which carry a deletion in the RORα gene, suffer from immune abnormalities, we generated an adenovirus encoding RORα1 to investigate its potential role in control of the inflammatory response. We demonstrated that RORα is expressed in human primary smooth-muscle cells and that ectopic expression of RORα1 inhibits TNFα-induced IL-6, IL-8 and COX-2 expression in these cells. RORα1 negatively interferes with the NF-κB signalling pathway by reducing p65 translocation as demonstrated by western blotting, immunostaining and electrophoretic mobility shift assays. This action of RORα1 on NF-κB is associated with the induction of IκBα, the major inhibitory protein of the NF-κB signalling pathway, whose expression was found to be transcriptionally upregulated by RORα1 via a ROR response element in the IκBα promoter. Taken together, these data identify RORα1 as a potential target in the treatment of chronic inflammatory diseases, including atherosclerosis and rheumatoid arthritis.

Rev-Erb␣ (NR1D1) is an orphan nuclear receptor encoded on the opposite strand of the thyroid receptor ␣ gene. Rev-Erb␣ mRNA is induced during adipocyte differentiation of 3T3-L1 cells, and its expression is abundant in rat adipose tissue. Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor ␥ (PPAR␥) (NR1C3) is a nuclear receptor controlling adipocyte differentiation and insulin sensitivity. Here we show that Rev-Erb␣ expression is induced by PPAR␥ activation with rosiglitazone in rat epididymal and perirenal adipose tissues in vivo as well as in 3T3-L1 adipocytes in vitro. Adipocyte differentiation is a complex biological process, which is reflected at the molecular level by the transcriptional activation of a number of adipocyte-specific genes and by the acquisition of the ability to accumulate cytoplasmic lipid droplets (1-3). The nuclear receptor peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor ␥ (PPAR␥, 1 NR1C3) (4, 5) and members of the CCAAT enhancer-binding protein (C/EBP) family (6 -12) play key roles in this adipogenic process. In addition, the adipocyte differentiation and determination factor-1 (SREBP-1/ADD1) appears to promote adipocyte differentiation by activating the expression of PPAR␥ and increasing the synthesis of endogenous PPAR␥ ligands (13-15). Members of the PPAR family bind as heterodimers with the retinoid X receptors (RXR) to specific response elements termed peroxisome proliferator response elements (PPRE) (for review see Ref. 16). These PPREs usually consist of a direct repeat of the PuGGTCA motif spaced by one nucleotide (DR1). The transcriptional activity of the PPARs is activated by a number of different fatty acid metabolites, most notably products of the cycloxygenase and lipoxygenase pathways. In addition, a large number of synthetic compounds are known to be potent and subtype specific PPAR ligands. For example, thiazolidinedione compounds used as insulin sensitizers in the treatment of type II diabetes are high affinity PPAR␥ ligands (17).Rev-Erb␣ (NR1D1) is another nuclear receptor, the expression of which is induced during adipocyte differentiation (18). Rev-Erb␣ is highly expressed in adipose tissue but also in skeletal muscle, liver and brain (18 -21). Since no ligand has been identified so far, Rev-Erb␣ is considered as an orphan member of the nuclear receptor superfamily. Rev-Erb␣ has been shown to act as a negative regulator of transcription (22) binding either as monomer on nuclear receptor half-site motifs flanked 5Ј by an A/T rich sequence (A/T PuGGTCA), or as a homodimer to a direct repeat of the PuGGTCA motif spaced by two nucleotides (DR2).We have previously shown that PPAR␣ activates the expression of Rev-Erb␣ through an atypical PPRE, a DR-2 element, in the Rev-Erb␣ promoter (23). Transcriptional activation by PPAR␥ through a DR-2 element has so far not been reported. However, since Rev-Erb␣ is induced during the course of adipocyte differentiation, we decided to investigate whether PPAR␥ could be involved in transcriptional induction of RevErb␣ expression in adipocytes. Furth...