bMacrophages play important roles in many diseases and are frequently found in hypoxic areas. A chronic hypoxic microenvironment alters global cellular protein expression, but molecular details remain poorly understood. Although hypoxiainducible factor (HIF) is an established transcription factor allowing adaption to acute hypoxia, responses to chronic hypoxia are more complex. Based on a two-dimensional differential gel electrophoresis (2D-DIGE) approach, we aimed to identify proteins that are exclusively expressed under chronic but not acute hypoxia (1% O 2 ). One of the identified proteins was cathepsin B (CTSB), and a knockdown of either HIF-1␣ or -2␣ in primary human macrophages pointed to an HIF-2␣ dependency. Although chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) experiments confirmed HIF-2 binding to a CTSB enhancer in acute hypoxia, an increase of CTSB mRNA was evident only under chronic hypoxia. Along those lines, CTSB mRNA stability increased at 48 h but not at 8 h of hypoxia. However, RNA stability at 8 h of hypoxia was enhanced by a knockdown of tristetraprolin (TTP). Inactivation of TTP under prolonged hypoxia was facilitated by c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK), and inhibition of this kinase lowered CTSB mRNA levels and stability. We postulate a TTP-dependent mechanism to explain delayed expression of CTSB under chronic hypoxia.C hronic diseases such as diabetes, atherosclerosis, and cancer are characterized by hypoxic areas resulting, for example, from compromised perfusion of narrowed or leaky vessels. Cells of the immune system are involved in the outcome of these diseases. As part of the innate immune system, macrophages actively regulate inflammation but also the resolution of inflammation as well as tissue regeneration and remodeling. Macrophages invade hypoxic areas attracted by a number of cytokines produced by hypoxic cells. To survive and operate in a hypoxic environment, cells need a variety of adaptive mechanisms (1, 2).Hypoxia-inducible factors (HIFs) are important to coordinate hypoxic responses and consist of a constitutively expressed -subunit and an oxygen-regulated ␣-subunit. Both are members of the helix-loop-helix/Per, ARNT, and SIM (PAS) transcription factor family (1, 3). Among the ␣-subunits, HIF-1␣ and HIF-2␣ are best characterized. Both contain an oxygen-dependent degradation domain (ODD) with two conserved prolyl residues that are hydroxylated by prolyl hydroxylases (PHDs) 1 to 3 when sufficient oxygen is available, allowing their proteasomal degradation (4, 5). PHDs are impaired under hypoxia, which in turn causes accumulation and translocation of HIF-␣ into the nucleus. The ␣-subunit forms a heterodimer with the -subunit and binds to hypoxiaresponsive elements (HRE) in regulatory regions of target genes (6). By recruiting cofactors like p300 or CBP, the HIF proteins enhance transcription of about 400 target genes (7,8). Although HIF abundance is mostly regulated by protein stability, regulation of HIF-1␣ mRNA via binding of tristetraprolin (TTP) to AU-rich elements (AREs) in the 3...