Nuclear translocation of cytosolic CLIC4 is an essential feature of its proapoptotic and prodifferentiation functions. Here we demonstrate that CLIC4 is induced concurrently with inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) and S-nitrosylated in proinflammatory peritoneal macrophages. Chemical inhibition or genetic ablation of iNOS inhibits S-nitrosylation and nuclear translocation of CLIC4. In macrophages, iNOS-induced nuclear CLIC4 coincides with the proto anti-inflammatory transition of the cells because IL-1β and CXCL1 mRNA remain elevated in CLIC4 and iNOS knockout macrophages at late time points, whereas TNFα mRNA is elevated only in the iNOS knockout macrophages. Active IL-1β remains elevated in CLIC4 knockout macrophages and in macrophages in which CLIC4 nuclear translocation is prevented by the NOS inhibitor L-NAME. Moreover, overexpression of nuclear-targeted CLIC4 down-regulates IL-1β in stimulated macrophages. In mice, genetically null for CLIC4, the number of phagocytosing macrophages stimulated by LPS is reduced. Thus, iNOS-induced nuclear CLIC4 is an essential part of the macrophage deactivation program.protein nitrosylation | IL-1beta | phagocytosis C hloride intracellular channel 4 (CLIC4) is the most wellcharacterized member of a family of channel proteins conserved from Caenorhabditis elegans to humans. Although the chloride-selective channel activity of various members has long been established by multiple groups (1-3), the signaling and adaptor functions of soluble CLIC4 and other members have only recently come to the fore. Soluble CLIC4, originally identified as a p53-and c-myc-responsive proapoptotic protein (4, 5), is important for PKCdependent keratinocyte differentiation (6) and a modulator of TGFβ signaling in multiple cell types (7-9). Many of these proapoptotic and differentiation functions of CLIC4 are dependent on its translocation to the nucleus (6,8,10). CLIC4 exhibits redox sensitivity in both its soluble and membrane-associated states (11,12). Indeed, a central mechanism for induction of nuclear CLIC4 is nitric oxide (NO)-dependent modification (S-nitrosylation) of the protein that induces a conformational change, enhancing its association with nuclear transporters and thus its nuclear levels (13).Recently, a role for CLIC4 has been implicated in innate immunity. CLIC4 is an IRF3-dependent early response gene in LPSstimulated macrophages, transrepressed by the anti-inflammatory activity of the glucocorticoid receptor (14). Moreover, CLIC4 knockout macrophages exhibit dysregulation of multiple inflammatory mediators during the early response to LPS, in part as a consequence of altered IRF3 activity (15). These studies suggest that CLIC4 is important in macrophage early functions in response to stimulation but do not address later aspects of macrophage biology related to deactivation and phagocytosis. Furthermore, information is not available to reveal if the CLIC4 channel or nuclear activity is involved in these functions. Therefore, we investigated the role of CLIC4 activity in infl...