Objective:This study aims to investigate the effects of protein kinase C-α(PKC-α)over-expression on the phosphorylation level of nuclear factor-κB-p65(NF-κB-p65)in human embryonic kidney 293T(HEK-293T)cells,and examine the inhibitory effect of sinomenine(SIN)on PKC-α/NF-κB-p65 signaling pathway. Methods:To construct the rat wild type(WT)PKC-α over-expression plasmid(pIRES2-PKC-α WT,PKC-αWT),rat PKC-α complete sequence coding(CDS)was amplified by PCR and cloned into pIRES2-EGFP. Then,alanine(A) at the site of 25 and lysine(K) at the site of 368 were mutated to glutamic(E) and arginine(R),respectively based on PKC-αWT to construct PKC-α constitutively active(CA) mutant(pIRES2-PKC-α A25E,PKC-αCA)and PKC-α dominant negative(DN) mutant(pIRES2-PKC-αK368R,PKC-αDN). The rat wild-type NF-κB-p65 over-expression plasmid,namely pIRES2-NF-κB-p65(p65WT),was constructed by our research group previously. The plasmid of p65WT was transfected into HEK-293T cells together with the above-mentioned different PKC-α over-expression plasmids respectively. The expression and phosphorylation levels of PKC-α and NF-κB-p65 were detected by Western blot. Next,HEK-293T cells were co-transfected with the above-mentioned plasmids in different groups,and after 46 h cells were continuously treated with SIN at the dose of 50 ng/mL for 2 h. Then,the effects of SIN on phosphorylation of PKC-α and NF-κB-p65 were determined by Western blot. Results:PCR analysis and nucleotide sequencing verified that the above-mentioned PKC-α over-expression plasmids were constructed successfully. The phosphorylation of NF-κB-p65 in HEK-293T cells was increased in response to PKC-αWT and PKC-αCA over-expression,especially PKC-αCA over-expression. However,there was no significant change of NF-κB-p65 phosphorylation after PKC-αDN over-expression. SIN treatment could inhibit the phosphorylation of PKC-α in HEK-293T cells transfected with PKC-αWT,PKC-αCA and PKC-αDN. SIN could also inhibit the phosphorylation of NF-κB-p65 in HEK-293T cells caused by PKC-αWT over-expression,but not by PKC-αCA or PKC-αDN over-expression. Conclusion:Over-expression of PKC-α can promote the phosphorylation of NF-κB-p65 in HEK-293T cells. SIN treatment can down-regulate NF-κB-p65 phosphorylation through inhibition of PKC-α phosphorylation in HEK-293T cells.