Rs11714297C/T was associated with ARDS in EA [9]. (A) Rs11714297C/T interrupted MYLK 5′UTR binding to TF ISX. EMSA was utilized for studying TF protein–MYLK DNA interactions. Nuclear extract from HeLa cells for the TF pool was incubated with biotin-labeled MYLK DNA fragments containing rs11714297 C or T alleles, competed by an unlabeled DNA fragment containing ISX sequence. After electrophoresis, the DNA–protein complex was detected by HRP and ECL. Compared with rs11714297C, rs11714297T significantly increased ISX binding to MYLK DNA. (B) HPAECs were transfected with nmMYLK promoter-Luc-intron with rs11714297C or rs11714297T, co-transfected with phRL-TK. Thirty-six hours later, ECs were exposed to LPS 100 ng/ml for 4 h or 18% CS for 8 h. The relative luciferase activities were measured and normalized by controls. Rs11714297T significantly increased promoter activities of MYLK, especially in response to LPS and 18% CS (*P<0.05 vs. rs11714297C, **P<0.01 vs. LPS/No SNP and 18% CS/No SNP, n=4 each).