COS-7 cells were transfected with empty vector (EV), MUC1/A, MUC1/B, or MUC1ΔEX for 48 h. Cells were left untreated (UT) or treated with 10 ng/ml TNFα for 4 and 24 h. QRT-PCR analysis of IL-1β (A and C) or IL-8 (B and D) mRNA was performed. TNFα-induced expression in EV-transfected cells at 4 h was set to one for comparison. (E) COS-7 cells were treated for 24 h with 10 ng/ml TNFα. IL-8 protein levels were measured in the cultured media by ELISA. Values in panels A-D are the mean ± SEM of 3–5 experiments. *, p<0.05 compared to EV. **, p<0.001 compared to EV. #, p<0.05 compared to MUC1/A. ##, p<0.001 compared to MUC1/A.