SB 202190 significantly inhibits both basal and anti-Fas antibody-induced MAPKAPK 2 activity in a dose-dependent manner. SB202190 by itself is sufficient to induce cell death in Jurkat and HeLa cells through activation of CPP32-like caspases, which can be blocked by expression of bcl-2. SB202190-induced apoptosis is attenuated by p38β but augmented by p38α. [2] SB 202190 strongly inhibits UVB induced COX-2 protein expression in HaCaT cells, and markedly inhibits UVB induced cox-2 mRNA. [3] SB 202190 treatment inhibits the expression of albumin-induced proinflammatory (monocyte chemoattractant protein-1) and transforming growth factor (TGF)-beta1-induced profibrotic (procollagen-Ialpha1) genes over 50% in renal tubular cells (normal rat kidney-52E). [4] SB 202190 treatment induces phosphorylation of JNK in a dose- and time- dependent manner in A549 cells, induces phosphorylation of ATF-2 transcription factor, and increases AP-1 DNA binding. [6] SB 202190 treatment enhances the growth of THP-1 and MV4-11 cells. SB 202190 increases the phosphorylation of c-Raf and ERK, suggesting that Ras-Raf-MEK-mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathway activation is involved in the leukemia cell growth induced by SB 202190. [7]