ESE-1, a member of the Ets family of transcription factors, critically regulates epithelial cell differentiation and mediates vascular inflammation. ESE-1 is strongly expressed in vascular endothelium and smooth muscle cells where it is induced in response to inflammatory cytokines and lipopolysaccharides, interacts with NF-KappaB to induce nitric oxide synthase, and is induced during terminal differentiation of epidermal and primary keratinocytes. In addition, ESE-1 is upregulated upon di