Prostaglandin H synthase (PGHS) is the rate-limiting enzyme in the conversion of arachidonic acid to prostanoids. The human PGHS has two isoforms. PGHS-1 is a house keeping gene whereas PGHS-2 is an inducible gene. We reported here the isolation of the entire PGHS-2 gene and its 5'-flanking region from a human bacteriophage P1 genomic library. The gene containing 10 exons is 7.5 kb in length and located at chromosome 1. The transcriptional start site was mapped at 134 bases upstream from the ATG start codon. Nucleotide sequence of 1.8 kb promoter region contains a TATA box and a number of potential regulatory elements including CRE, NF-kappa B, Sp1 and AP2 sites. Studies of the promoter activity showed that the first 460 nucleotides of 5'-flanking region efficiently drove transcription of the luciferase reporter gene in human umbilical vein endothelial cells upon stimulation with phorbor ester.