Fig. 1. Functional activity of EGFP-GR in HeLa cells. (A) HeLa cells transiently transfected with pTAT3-luc and either pEGFP-GR or control pEGFP-N1 expression vectors were treated with dexamethasone for 20 hours prior to harvesting. TAT3-directed luciferase expression was measured and plotted relative to the expression for 0 nM dexamethasone-treated cells for each transfection. n=3, error bars±s.e. (B) HeLa cells were transiently transfected with pNF-B-luc together with various EGFP expression vectors. EGFP expression vectors expressing fusions with p65, GR or both, or a control EGFP were transfected into the cells. Cells were pre-treated for 40 minutes with either medium alone or with 10 nM dexamethasone (in medium) prior to treatment with 10 ng ml^-1 TNF for 6 hours. The luciferase activity in cell lysates was determined in pairs of samples either treated with TNF alone or with dexamethasone and TNF. The relative luciferase activity obtained between these values reflects the level of inhibition obtained through prior stimulation with dexamethasone. These ratios are plotted as percentage inhibition for each different transfection condition. All transfections were significantly different to one another as calculated by 5% least significant difference. n=3, error bars±s.e.