One of the major causes of tooth loss is chronic inflammation of the periodontium, the tissues surrounding the tooth. Amelotin (
AMTN
) is a tooth enamel protein which is expressed in maturation‐stage ameloblasts and also in the internal basal lamina of junctional epithelium, a unique epithelial structure attached to the tooth surface which protects against the constant microbiological challenge to the periodontium. Localization of
AMTN
suggests that its function could be involved in the dentogingival attachment. The purpose of this study was to investigate the effect of interleukin‐1β (
IL
‐1β) on
AMTN
gene transcription in human gingival epithelial Ca9‐22 cells.
IL
‐1β increased
AMTN mRNA
and protein levels at 3 h, and the levels reached maximum at 6 and 12 h.
IL
‐1β induced luciferase activities of human
AMTN
gene promoter constructs (−211, −353, −501, −769, and −950AMTN), but these activities were partially inhibited in −353AMTN constructs that included 3‐bp mutations in
CCAAT
/enhancer binding protein 1 (C/
EBP
1), C/
EBP
2, and Ying Yang 1 (
YY
1) elements. Transcriptional activities induced by
IL
‐1β were abrogated by protein kinase A (
PKA
), tyrosine kinase, mitogen‐activated protein kinase kinase (
MEK
1/2), and phosphatidylinositol 3‐kinase (
PI
3K) inhibitors. Gel shift and ChIP assays showed that
IL
‐1β increased C/
EBP
β binding to C/
EBP
1 and C/
EBP
2, and
YY
1 binding to
YY
1 elements after 3 h, and that these
DNA
–protein interactions were inhibited by
PKA
, tyrosine kinase,
MEK
1/2, and
PI
3K inhibitors. These results demonstrated that
IL
‐1β increases
AMTN
gene transcription in human gingival epithelial cells mediated through C/
EBP
1, C/
EBP
2, and
YY
1 elements in the human
AMTN
gene promoter.