l. found that the TLR4-p38 MAPK-CREB axis is responsible for PAI-2 induction by searching p38-dependent transcription 12537482 factors in LPS-induced apoptotic gene promoters. In contrast, we used a systematic approach to lead the discovery of LPS-responsive genes regulated by NF-kB and a p38-downstream transcription factor C/EBPb. By comparing the mRNA expression levels in wt cells with those in IkkbD and in p38-inhibited cells, 32 LPS-induced genes subject to NF-kB- and p38-mediated regulation were identified. Furthermore, in silico analysis predicted that 10 genes contained NF-kB and C/EBP binding sites in their promoters. These genes are very likely subject to NF-kB and C/EBPb regulation in response to LPS stimulation. Yet, due to the limitations of bioinformatics, this hypothesis still needs to be experimentally validated. In addition, although using primary BMDMs for experimentation has always been a high priority, the resources were limited. Therefore, the murine macrophage-like RAW264.7 cells were used in some experiments of this study. It has been estimated that nearly 100 transcription factors are induced by LPS to precisely regulate the high complexity of TLR4-induced responses. In our 
search to identify novel transcription factors, promoters from co-expressed genes were searched for over-represented sequence motifs. The basic assumption of this search was that genes showing similar expression patterns should be regulated by the same transcription factors, and, therefore, the promoters of co-expressed genes should contain similar sequence elements, corresponding to binding sites for the common regulators. In addition to NF-kB and its family members, C/EBP binding sites were predicted in gene promoters and identified as potential p38-activated transcriptional regulation sites. In order to validate these genes that were regulated both by NF-kB and C/EBPb, we chose Tnfaip3 for further experiments based on the number of binding sites and their proximity to the 7 Tnfaip3 is Regulated by NF-kB and p38 via C/EBPb transcription start site. Previously, Litvak et al. also 23672485 identified a C/ EBPb binding motif in the promoter of Tnfaip3. C/EBP is a family of transcription factors that share a highly conserved PTK/ZK chemical information dimerization domain required for DNA binding and have been shown to be dependent on interaction with other transcription factors, including NF-kB, Sp1, and Fos/Jun. For example, LPS can enhance the gene expression of FLAP via both NF-kB and C/EBP in phagocytes. Also, the C/EBP families of transcription factors have been shown to participate in regulating proinflammatory cytokine expression upon TLR activation. Likewise, the C/EBP binding motif can be found in the promoters of many LPS-induced genes. It has been shown that LPS/TLR4-activated C/EBPb is dependent on the MyD88/IRAK4 pathway. Nevertheless, the mechanism of LPS-stimulated C/EBP remains incompletely understood. P38 MAPK has been proven to be required for full transcriptional activation of several TLR4-activated genes in dendritic cells and in macrophages. Previous studies have showed Helicobacter pylori LPS is able to activate C/EBPb through PI3K/Akt/p38 MAPK signaling to drive pro-IL-1b transcription. However, since H. pylori LPS does not trigger the typical TLR4 pathway, it remains to be further elucidated whether the PI3K/Akt/p38 MAPK axis is involved TLR4-induced C/ EBPb expression. In this study, we demonstrated a novel mechanism of TLR4-induced C/EBPb activity through p38 MAPK,
