Abstract: The present invention provides a method of screening for agonists of an oxycholesterol activator of LXR? transcription, comprising the steps of: introducing a reporter construct and an LXR expression construct into a host cell; treating the host cell with potential LXR-specific ligands; and identifying compounds which activate LXR? transcription. Also provided is a method of screening for antagonists of an oxycholesterol activator of LXR? transcription, comprising the steps of: introducing a reporter construct and an LXR expression construct into a host cell; pretreating the host cell with activators of LXR? transcription; contacting the host cell with potential antagonists of LXR? transcription; and identifying compounds which block the activation the LXR? transcription.

Abstract: DNA segments have been discovered, and characterized by sequence, which are response elements operative to confer responsiveness to retinoic acid, or derivatives thereof, for the transcriptional activation of promoters in cells. By using transcriptional control regions comprising response elements of the present invention in combination with a functional promoter, it is now possible to provide recombinant DNA vectors containing a gene, the transcription (and, thereby, also expression) of which is under the control of a promoter, the transcriptional activity of which is responsive to (and increased by) retinoic acid or derivatives thereof.