Transcription factor Ets-1 inhibits glucose-stimulated insulin secretion of pancreatic β-cells partly through up-regulation of COX-2 gene expression.

Increased cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) expression is associated with pancreatic β-cell dysfunction. We previously demonstrated that the transcription factor Ets-1 significantly up-regulated COX-2 gene promoter activity. In this report, we used the pancreatic β-cell line INS-1 and isolated rat islets to investigate whether Ets-1 could induce β-cell dysfunction through up-regulating COX-2 gene expression. We investigated the effects of ETS-1 overexpression and the effects of ETS-1 RNA interference on endogenous COX-2 expression in INS-1 cells. We used site-directed mutagenesis and a dual luciferase reporter assay to study putative Ets-1 binding sites in the COX-2 promoter. The effect of ETS-1 1 overexpression on the insulin secretion function of INS-1 cells and rat islets and the potential reversal of these effects by a COX-2 inhibitor were determined in a glucose-stimulated insulin secretion (GSIS) assay. ETS-1 overexpression significantly induces endogenous COX-2 expression, but ETS-1 RNA interference has no effect on basal COX-2 expression in INS-1 cells. Ets-1 protein significantly increases COX-2 promoter activity through the binding site located in the -195/-186 region of the COX-2 promoter. ETS-1 overexpression significantly inhibited the GSIS function of INS-1 cells and islet cells and COX-2 inhibitor treatment partly reversed this effect. These findings indicated that ETS-1 overexpression induces β-cell dysfunction partly through up-regulation of COX-2 gene expression. Moreover, Ets-1, the transcriptional regulator of COX-2 expression, may be a potential target for the prevention of β-cell dysfunction mediated by COX-2.