The present study evaluated the expression and regulation of endogenous thyroid hormone receptors (TRs) in cultured cells. In COS-1 cells, the endogenous TR, subtype 1 (TR1), but not subtype 2 or ␣1, was induced to express by okadaic acid (OA) in a concentrationdependent manner. The induced TR1 had immunoreactivity and partial V8 proteolytic maps similar to those of the transfected and in vitro translated human TR1 (h-TR1). The OA-induced expression of endogenous TR1 was, however, not observed in a variety of other cultured cell lines tested, indicating that the induction was cell type-dependent. TR1 induced by OA was a multisite phosphorylated protein, in which serine and threonine in a ratio of 10:1 were phosphorylated. The induced TR1 was functional as it could mediate the thyroid hormone-dependent transcriptional activity via several thyroid hormone response elements. The induction of endogenous TR1 expression by OA was not accompanied by an increase in mRNA levels but was the result of an increase in the stability of the TR1 protein. This is the first report to indicate that one of the mechanisms by which the TR isoforms are differentially expressed is via the tissue-specific stabilization of the TR isoform proteins. Furthermore, this selective stability of TR1 could be conferred by phosphorylation.Thyroid hormone nuclear receptors (TRs) 1 are members of the steroid hormone/retinoic acid receptor superfamily. Two TR genes, TR␣ and TR, have been identified which are located on chromosome 17 and chromosome 3, respectively. Four isoforms, 1, 2, ␣1, and ␣2, are generated from each of two TR genes, ␣ and , by alternative splicing (1, 2). They are transcription factors that regulate the expression of target genes by interacting with specific DNA sequences known as thyroid hormone response elements (TREs) in the promoter region of target genes (1, 2). The transcriptional activity of TRs is not only dependent on thyroid hormone 3,3Ј,5-triiodo-L-thyronine (T 3 ) but also on the type of TRE. Recent studies have indicated that the transcriptional activity of TRs is further modulated via interaction with four groups of cellular proteins: (a) members of the nuclear receptor superfamily, notably the retinoid X receptors (1, 2); (b) corepressors including p270/N-CoR (3), SMRT (4), TRUP (5), SHP (6), and TRACs (7); (c) coactivator SRC-1 (8); and (d) the tumor suppressor p53 (9). It is clear that regulation of the transcriptional activity of TRs is more complex than envisioned previously.One important but less well studied mode of modulation of TR activity is the regulation of TR expression at the protein level. TR␣1 and TR1 are differentially expressed at different developmental stages and at different levels in various tissues (10 -12). Moreover, using the specific T 3 binding activity and immunoreactivity as measures of the expressed receptor proteins, it was found that there are marked variations in the TR protein:mRNA ratios in different tissues (11, 12), suggesting isoform-and tissue-dependent posttra...