As the obligate heterodimer partner to class II nuclear receptors, the retinoid X receptor ␣ (RXR␣) plays a vital physiological role in the regulation of multiple hepatic functions, including bile formation, intermediary metabolism, and endobiotic/xenobiotic detoxification. Many RXR␣-regulated genes are themselves suppressed in inflamed liver via unknown mechanisms, which constitute a substantial component of the negative hepatic acute phase response. In this study we show that RXR␣, generally considered a stable nuclear resident protein, undergoes rapid nuclear export in response to signals initiated by the pro-inflammatory cytokine interleukin-1 (IL-1), a central activator of the acute phase response. Within 30 min of exposure to IL-1, nuclear levels of RXR␣ are markedly suppressed in human liver-derived HepG2 cells, temporally coinciding with its appearance in the cytoplasm. The nuclear residence of RXR␣ is maintained by inhibiting c-jun N-terminal kinase (JNK, curcumin or SP600125) or CRM-1-mediated nuclear export (Leptomycin B). Pretreatment with the proteasome inhibitor MG132 blocks IL-1-mediated reductions in nuclear RXR␣ levels while increasing accumulation in the cytoplasm. Mutational studies identify one residue, serine 260, a JNK phosphoacceptor site whose phosphorylation status had an unknown role in RXR␣ function, as critical for IL-1-mediated nuclear export of transfected human RXR␣-green fluorescent fusion constructs. These findings indicate that inflammation-mediated cell signaling leads to rapid and profound reductions in nuclear RXR␣ levels, via a multistep, JNK-dependent mechanism involving Ser 260 , nuclear export, and proteasomal degradation. Thus, inflammation-meditated cell signaling targets RXR␣ for nuclear export and degradation; a potential mechanism that explains the broad suppression of RXR␣-dependent gene expression in the inflamed liver.After injury or infection, the liver participates in a program of modified gene expression known collectively as the acute phase response (APR) 2 (1). A wide variety of hepatic functions are altered during the APR, much of which occurs by cytokine-mediated activation or suppression of target gene transcription. Among the principal hepatic physiologic processes inhibited during the negative hepatic APR are genes involved in endobiotic/xenobiotic metabolism, glucose homeostasis, and bile formation, which then leads to cholestasis. Activation of the negative hepatic APR leads to cholestasis by decreasing bile salt synthesis (2), reducing canalicular bile salt export (3), and suppressing bile salt import, the latter of which occurs primarily by transcriptional down-regulation of the sodium-dependent taurocholate co-transporting polypeptide (Slc10A1) (4, 5). Recent evidence suggests that cytokine-mediated activation of cell signaling pathways during the APR leads to this coordinated response (6). One possibility is targeted repression of the essential heterodimer partner for type II nuclear receptor, RXR␣ (NR2B1), which is an attractive mechanism to ...