Our previous study identified five new heat shock factor 4 (HSF4) mutations in 150 age-related cataract (ARC) patients which indicated that HSF4 mutations may be associated with this disease. Hypoxia-inducible factor (Hif1 alpha) is an important downstream target of HSF4b. It has been found that Hif1 alpha play also important roles in cataract development. To identify if HSF4b play it role in cataract development through HIF1 alpha, we transfected SRA01/04 lens epithelial cells with small hairpin RNA of HSF4b and measured expressions Hif1 alpha after transfection. Then, we perform chromatin immunoprecipitation quantitative PCR to see the relationship between HSF4b and HIF1 alpha. We found that HSF4 downregulation led to decrease of HIFI a mRNA expression. Furthermore, we demonstrated by ChIP followed by quantitative PCR (ChIP-qPCR) that these HIF-1 alpha is bound by HSF4b near promoters, not gene bodies. (C) 2014 Published by Elsevier Inc.