Transactivation of fibronectin promoter by HTLV-I Tax through NF-kappaB pathway

The facts that fibronectin (FN) mRNA is elevated in cells expressing human T cell leukemia virus type I (HTLV-I) Tax protein and that Tax is known to transactivate the cellular cAMP-response element (CRE) prompted us to examine whether Tax activates the FN promoter of which CRE is thought to play an important role. We showed that Tax transactivated the FN promoter in Jurkat cells. Deletion analyses showed that the response-element resides within the promoter region of -69 bp and that an NF-kappaB-binding site at -41 bp is involved in the Tax-activation of the FN promoter. Gel-shift assays showed that DNA-protein complexes binding to the NF-kappaB site, composed of NF-kappaB p50/p65, were induced on the NF-kappaB motif at -41 bp by Tax. Overexpression of NF-kappaB enhanced the Tax-activation of the FN promoter. Our study shows that the FN promoter is transactivated by Tax through the NF-kappaB pathway.     

Cellular and molecular mechanisms that mediate basal and tumour necrosis factor-alpha-induced regulation of myosin light chain kinase gene activity.

The patients with Crohn's disease (CD) have a 'leaky gut' manifested by an increase in intestinal epithelial tight junction (TJ) permeability. Tumour necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) is a proto-typical pro-inflammatory cytokine that plays a central role in intestinal inflammation of CD. An important pro-inflammatory action of TNF-alpha is to cause a functional opening of intestinal TJ barrier. Previous studies have shown that TNF-alpha increase in TJ permeability was regulated by an increase in myosin light chain kinase (MLCK) gene activity and protein expression. The major aim of this study was to elucidate the cellular and molecular mechanisms that mediate basal and TNF-alpha-induced increase in MLCK gene activity. By progressive 5' deletion, minimal MLCK promoter was localized between -313 to +118 on MLCK promoter. A p53 binding site located within minimal promoter region was identified as an essential determinant for basal promoter activity. A 4 bp start site and a 5 bp downstream promoter element were required for MLCK gene activity. TNF-alpha-induced increase in MLCK promoter activity was mediated by NF-kappaB activation. There were eight kappaB binding sites on MLCK promoter. The NF-kappaB1 site at +48 to +57 mediated TNF-alpha-induced increase in MLCK promoter activity. The NF-kappaB2 site at -325 to -316 had a repressive role on promoter activity. The opposite effects on promoter activity were due to differences in the NF-kappaB dimer type binding to the kappaB sites. p50/p65 dimer preferentially binds to the NF-kappaB1 site and up-regulates promoter activity; while p50/p50 dimer preferentially binds to the NF-kappaB2 site and down-regulates promoter activity. In conclusion, we have identified the minimal MLCK promoter region, essential molecular determinants and molecular mechanisms that mediate basal and TNF-alpha-induced modulation of MLCK promoter activity in Caco-2 intestinal epithelial cells. These studies provide novel insight into the cellular and molecular mechanisms that regulate basal and TNF-alpha-induced modulation of MLCK gene activity.     

Phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate upregulates cyclooxygenase-2 expression in human pulmonary epithelial cells via Ras, Raf-1, ERK, and NF-kappaB, but not p38 MAPK, pathways

In this study, we investigated the signaling pathway involved in cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) expression and prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) release by phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (PMA), a protein kinase C (PKC) activator, in human pulmonary epithelial cells (A549). PMA-induced COX-2 expression was attenuated by PKC inhibitors (Go 6976 and Ro 31-8220), a Ras inhibitor (manumycin A), a Raf-1 inhibitor (GW 5074), a MEK inhibitor (PD 098059), and an NF-kappaB inhibitor (PDTC), but not by a tyrosine kinase inhibitor (genistein) or a p38 MAPK inhibitor (SB 203580). PMA also caused the activation of Ras, Raf-1, and ERK1/2. PMA-induced activation of Ras and Raf-1 was inhibited by Ro 31-8220 and manumycin A. PMA-mediated activation of ERK1/2 was inhibited by Ro 31-8220, manumycin A, GW 5074, and PD 098059. Stimulation of cells with PMA caused IkappaBalpha phosphorylation, IkappaBalpha degradation, and the formation of a NF-kappaB-specific DNA-protein complex. The PMA-mediated increase in kappaB-luciferase activity was inhibited by Ro 31-8220, manumycin A, GW5074, PD 098059, and PDTC. Taken together, these results indicate that PMA might activate PKC to elicit activation of the Ras/Raf-1/ERK1/2 pathway, which in turn initiates NF-kappaB activation, and finally induces COX-2 expression and PGE2 release in A549 cells.     

Scoparone inhibits PMA-induced IL-8 and MCP-1 production through suppression of NF-kappaB activation in U937 cells

Scoparone is a major component of the shoot of Artemisia capillaris (Compositae), which has been used for the treatment of hepatitis and biliary tract infection in oriental countries. In this study, the effects of scoparone on the expression of interleukin-8 (IL-8) and monocyte chemotactic protein-1 (MCP-1) and activation of nuclear factor-kappaB (NF-kappaB) were examined in U937 human monocytes activated with phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (PMA). Scoparone (5-100 microM) had no cytotoxic effect in unstimulated cells and concentration-dependently reversed PMA-induced toxicity in the cells stimulated with PMA. Scoparone concentration-dependently reduced the release of IL-8 and MCP-1 protein and expression of IL-8 and MCP-1 mRNA levels induced by PMA. Moreover, scoparone inhibited the levels of NF-kappaB-DNA complex and NF-kappaB activity in the cells stimulated with PMA in a concentration-dependent manner. Scoparone dose-dependently inhibited the phosphorylation of IkappaBalpha and nuclear translocation of NF-kappaB1 p50, RelA p65, and c-Rel p75. These data suggest that scoparone may inhibit the expression of chemokines (IL-8 and MCP-1) in PMA-stimulated U937 cells and a potential mechanism of scoparone may be inhibition of NF-kappaB activation, which is linked to inhibition of NF-kappaB subunits (NF-kappaB1 p50, RelA p65, and c-Rel p75) translocation via suppression of IkappaBalpha phosphorylation.     

An absolute role of the PKC-dependent NF-kappaB activation for induction of MMP-9 in hepatocellular carcinoma cells

Matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) play an important role in inflammation, tumor cell invasion, and metastasis. We found that phorbol-12-myristate-13-acetate (PMA)-stimulated invasion of the hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC) SNU-387 and SNU-398 cells and that PMA induced the secretion of MMP-9 in the cells, but did not induce the secretion of MMP-2. The PMA-induced MMP-9 secretion was abolished by treatment of a pan-protein kinase C (PKC) inhibitor, GF109203X, and an inhibitor of NF-kappaB activation, sulfasalazine, and partly inhibited by treatment of inhibitors of ERK pathway, PD98059 and U0126. In addition, the PMA-stimulated activation of the MMP-9 promoter was completely inhibited by a mutation of the NF-kappaB site within the MMP-9 promoter, but not completely by mutations of two AP-1 sites. Moreover, the MMP-9 induction by HGF and TNF-alpha was also completely inhibited by GF109203X and sulfasalazine, but not by PD98059 and U0126. These data demonstrate that the PKC-dependent NF-kappaB activation is absolute for MMP-9 induction and that the PKC-dependent ERK activation devotes to increase the expression level of MMP-9, in HCC cells.     

Functional role of extracellular signal-regulated kinase activation and c-Jun induction in phorbol ester-induced promoter activation of human 12(S)-lipoxygenase gene

The functional role of mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) signaling and c-Jun induction in phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (PMA)-induced human 12(S)-lipoxygenase gene expression was studied in human epidermoid carcinoma A431 cells. Among the family of MAPK, PMA only increased the activity of extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK). Treatment of cells with PD98059, which is an inhibitor of mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase (MEK), decreased the PMA-induced expression of 12(S)-lipoxygenase. Transfection of cells with Ras, Raf and ERK2 dominant negative mutants inhibited the PMA-induced promoter activation of the 12(S)-lipoxygenase gene in all cases. PMA-induced expression of c-Jun was inhibited by pretreatment with PD98059. Following treatment with PMA, the interaction between c-Jun and simian virus 40 promoter factor 1 (Sp1) in cells increased with time. Enhancement of binding between the c-Jun-Sp1 complex and the Sp1 oligonucleotide was observed in cells treated with PMA, suggesting the possible interaction of c-Jun-Sp1 with GC-rich binding sites in the gene promoter. These results indicate that PMA treatment induced ERK activation mainly through the Raf-MEK-ERK signaling pathway following induction of c-Jun expression, and the formation of the c-Jun-Sp1 complex. Finally, PMA activated the promoter activity of the 12(S)-lipoxygenase gene in cells overexpressing protein kinase C (PKC)delta but not PKCalpha, indicating that PKCdelta played the functional role in mediating the gene activation of 12(S)-lipoxygenase induced by PMA.