Studies on glucocorticoid hormone actions in the regulation of human amnion PGHS

Abstract

The human amnion is an excellent model in which to study the regulation of the expression of prostaglandin endoperoxide H synthase-2 (PGHS-2) mRNA by glucocorticoids, as glucocorticoids can both stimulate and inhibit PGHS activity and can have their stimulatory effect reversed to an inhibitory one. Our studies suggest the presence of a glucocorticoid-induced inhibitory protein which affects the post-transcriptional activity of PGHS-2 mRNA. Glucocorticoid-induced expression of PGHS-2 mRNA may be dependent on protein phosphorylation.