Expression response of human monocyte derived macrophages to dexamethasone over a 24h time series

Macrophages are amongst the major targets of glucocorticoids (GC) as therapeutic anti-inflammatory agents. Here we show that GC treatment of mouse and human macrophages initiates a cascade of induced gene expression including many anti-inflammatory genes. Inducible binding of the glucocorticoid receptor (GR) was detected at candidate enhancers in the vicinity of induced genes in both species and this was strongly associated with canonical GR binding motifs. However, the sets of inducible genes, the candidate enhancers, and the GR motifs within them, were highly-divergent between the two species.. The data cast further doubt upon the predictive value of mouse models of inflammatory disease.

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Jubb AW, Young RS, Hume DA, Bickmore WA