To control agonist-induced nuclear translocation of transcription factor kappa B (NF-kappa B) in intact cells, cell-permeable synthetic peptides were devised. Their import into intact cells was dependent on a hydrophobic region selected from the signal peptide sequences and was verified by their inaccessibility to extracellular proteases and by confocal laser scanning microscopy. When a cell-permeable peptide carried a functional cargo representing the nuclear localization sequence of NF-kappa B p50, it inhibited in a concentration-dependent manner nuclear translocation of NF-kappa B in cultured endothelial and monocytic cells stimulated with lipopolysaccharide or tumor necrosis factor-alpha. Synthetic peptide analogues with deleted hydrophobic cell membrane-permeable motif or with a mutated nuclear localization sequence were inactive. Cell membrane-permeable peptides were not cytotoxic within the concentration range used in these experiments. These results suggest that cell-permeable synthetic peptides carrying a functional cargo can be applied to control signal transduction-dependent subcellular traffic of transcription factors mediating the cellular responses to different agonists. Moreover, this approach can be used to study other intracellular processes involving proteins with functionally distinct domains.

A B S T R A C T To assess the pharmacologic effects of aspirin on endogenous prostacyclin and thromboxane biosynthesis, 2,3-dinor-6-keto PGFia (PGI-M) and 2,3-dinor-thromboxane B2 (Tx-M) were measured in urine by mass spectrometry during continuing administration of aspirin. To define the relationship of aspirin intake to endogenous prostacyclin biosynthesis, sequential urines were initially collected in individuals prior to, during, and subsequent to administration of aspirin. Despite inter-and intra-individual variations, PGI-M excretion was significantly reduced by aspirin. However, full mass spectral identification confirmed continuing prostacyclin biosynthesis during aspirin therapy. Recovery of prostacyclin biosynthesis was incomplete 5 d after drug administration was discontinued. To relate aspirin intake to indices of thromboxane biosynthesis and platelet function, volunteers received 20 mg aspirin daily followed by 2,600 mg aspirin daily, each dose for 7 d in sequential weeks. Increasing aspirin dosage inhibited Tx-M excretion from 70 to 98% of pretreatment control values; platelet TxB2 formation from 4.9 to 0.5% and further inhibited platelet function.An extended study was performed to relate aspirin intake to both thromboxane and prostacyclin genera- tion over a wide range of doses. Aspirin, in the range of 20 to 325 mg/d, resulted in a dose-dependent decline in both Tx-M and PGI-M excretion. At doses of 325-2,600 mg/d Tx-M excretion ranged from 5 to 3% of control values while PGI-M remained at 37-23% of control. 3 d after the last dose of aspirin (2,600 mg/ d) mean Tx-M excretion had returned to 85% of control, whereas mean PGI-M remained at 40% of predosing values. Although the platelet aggregation response (Tmax) to ADP ex vivo was inhibited during administration of the lower doses of aspirin the aggregation response returned to control values during the final two weeks of aspirin administration (1,300 and 2,600 mg aspirin/d) despite continued inhibition of thromboxane biosynthesis.These results suggest that although chronic administration of aspirin results in inhibition of endogenous thromboxane and prostacyclin biosynthesis over a wide dose range, inhibition of thromboxane biosynthesis is more selective at 20 than at 2,600 mg aspirin/d. However, despite this, inhibition of platelet function is not maximal at the lower aspirin dosage. Doses of aspirin in excess of 80 mg/d resulted in substantial inhibition of endogenous prostacyclin biosynthesis. Thus, it is unlikely that any dose of aspirin can maximally inhibit thromboxane generation without also reducing endogenous prostacyclin biosynthesis. These results also indicate that recovery of endogenous prostacyclin biosynthesis is delayed following aspirin administration and that the usual effects of aspirin on platelet function ex vivo may be obscured during chronic aspirin administration in man.

Binding of fibrinogen to human platelets depends on the interaction of the gamma-chain carboxy-terminal segment with specific receptors exposed by different agonists such as ADP, epinephrine, and thrombin. The functions of a series of synthetic peptides encompassing the sequence of the 15 carboxy-terminal residues of the gamma chain were investigated in this study. Both pentadecapeptide (gamma 397-411) and dodecapeptide (gamma 400-411) inhibited binding of 125I-fibrinogen to ADP-treated platelets, with the concentration causing 50% inhibition (IC50) being 28 microM. In comparison, decapeptide (gamma 402-411) was almost 4 times less active (IC50 = 106 microM), thus suggesting that the two histidine residues (gamma 400-401) are required for a full inhibitory effect. A heptapeptide (gamma 405-411) had a similar effect (IC50 = 102 microM) whereas a pentapeptide (gamma 407-411) was even less inhibitory (IC50 = 190 microM), indicating that the lack of lysine (gamma 406) further diminishes the reactivity of the platelet recognition site on the gamma chain of human fibrinogen. The heptapeptide (gamma 400-406) containing two histidine residues and derived from the dodecapeptide by proteolytic degradation with trypsin had very low inhibitory activity. The synthetic peptides inhibited fibrinogen-supported platelet aggregation in the same order of decreasing reactivity: pentadecapeptide = dodecapeptide greater than decapeptide = heptapeptide greater than pentapeptide. Modified synthetic pentadecapeptides bearing tyrosine or cysteinyltyrosine at the amino terminal were prepared to provide a means for radiolabeling and for formation of molecules of higher valency.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Suppressor of cytokine signaling (SOCS) 3 attenuates proinflammatory signaling mediated by the signal transducer and activator of transcription (STAT) family of proteins. But acute inflammation can occur after exposure to pathogen-derived inducers staphylococcal enterotoxin B (SEB) and lipopolysaccharide (LPS), or the lectin concanavalin A (ConA), suggesting that physiologic levels of SOCS3 are insufficient to stem proinflammatory signaling under pathogenic circumstances. To test this hypothesis, we developed recombinant cell-penetrating forms of SOCS3 (CP-SOCS3) for intracellular delivery to counteract SEB-, LPS- and ConA-induced inflammation. We found that CP-SOCS3 was distributed in multiple organs within 2 h and persisted for at least 8 h in leukocytes and lymphocytes. CP-SOCS3 protected animals from lethal effects of SEB and LPS by reducing production of inflammatory cytokines and attenuating liver apoptosis and hemorrhagic necrosis. It also reduced ConA-induced liver apoptosis. Thus, replenishing the intracellular stores of SOCS3 with CP-SOCS3 effectively suppresses the devastating effects of acute inflammation.

The innate immune response and the process of inflammation are interwoven. Excessive and continuing cytokine production in response to bacterial lipopolysacharides (LPS) or superantigens is a hallmark of the systemic inflammatory response (IR), which can be life-threatening. Dissemination of these bacterial products induces waves of proinflammatory cytokines that cause vascular injury and multiple organ dysfunction. Both LPS and superantigens induce signaling to the nucleus in mononuclear phagocytes and T cells, respectively. These signaling pathways are mediated by NF-kappaB and other stress-responsive transcription factors (SRTFs), which play a critical role in reprogramming gene expression. The nuclear import of NF-kappaB allows transcriptional activation of over 100 genes that encode mediators of inflammatory and immune responses. We have developed a novel method to block nuclear import of NF-kappaB through cell-permeable peptide transduction in monocytes, macrophages, T lymphocytes, and endothelial cells. Strikingly, a cell-permeable peptide that antagonizes nuclear import of NF-kappaB and other SRTFs, suppressed the systemic production of proinflammatory cytokines (TNFalpha and interferon gamma) in mice challenged with a lethal dose of LPS, and increased their survival by at least 90%. Thus, systemic inflammatory responses are critically dependent on the transcriptional activation ofcytokine genes that are controlled by NF-kappaB and other SRTFs.

The Tax oncoprotein of human T-cell leukemia virus type 1 (HTLV1) chronically activates transcription factor NF-B by a mechanism involving degradation of IB␣, an NF-B-associated cytoplasmic inhibitor. Taxinduced breakdown of IB␣ requires phosphorylation of the inhibitor at Ser-32 and Ser-36, which is also a prerequisite for the transient activation of NF-B in cytokine-treated T lymphocytes. However, it remained unclear how Tax interfaces with the cellular NF-B/IB signaling machinery to generate a chronic rather than a transient NF-B response. We now demonstrate that Tax associates with cytokine-inducible IB kinase (IKK) complexes containing catalytic subunits IKK␣ and IKK␤, which mediate phosphorylation of IB␣ at Ser-32 and Ser-36. Unlike their transiently activated counterparts in cytokine-treated cells, Tax-associated forms of IKK are constitutively active in either Tax transfectants or HTLV1-infected T lymphocytes. Moreover, point mutations in Tax that ablate its IKK-binding function also prevent Tax-mediated activation of IKK and NF-B. Together, these findings suggest that the persistent activation of NF-B in HTLV1-infected T-cells is mediated by a direct Tax/IKK coupling mechanism.The NF-B/Rel family of transcription factors plays an important regulatory role in T-cell homeostasis and antigendriven proliferation (1-4). In quiescent T lymphocytes, NF-B is trapped in the cytoplasm by various inhibitory proteins, including IB␣ (5). In response to mitogenic signals, IB␣ is targeted for destruction by the ubiquitin-proteasome pathway and then NF-B translocates to the nucleus (6). Proteolytic inactivation of IB␣ requires signal-dependent phosphorylation of the inhibitor at Ser-32 and Ser-36 (7-10). Recent studies have identified two cytokine-inducible IB kinases (IKKs) 1 , termed IKK␣ and IKK␤, which appear to form heterodimers and catalyze these site-specific modifications in the context of a multisubunit enzyme complex (11)(12)(13)(14)(15).Human T-cell leukemia virus type 1 (HTLV1) is the etiologic agent of an aggressive malignancy of activated CD4 ϩ T lymphocytes (16). The HTLV1 provirus encodes a 40-kDa oncoprotein, termed Tax, which potently induces the constitutive nuclear expression of . Studies with Tax-transgenic mice suggest that this viral/host interaction is required to maintain the transformed phenotype of HTLV1-infected cells (20). We demonstrated recently that Tax converts IB␣ into a labile proteasome substrate by a mechanism involving phosphorylation of the inhibitor at 21,22). These findings suggested that Tax induces a chronic NF-B response by acting upstream of one or more IKKs (7). However, the precise mechanism by which Tax accesses the host NF-B signaling pathway remained unknown.We demonstrate here that cytokine-inducible IB kinases containing IKK␣ and IKK␤, which normally function in a transient manner (12-14), are expressed as constitutively active signal transducers in HTLV1-infected T lymphocytes. These activated forms of IKK associate stably with Tax when the oncoprotein is expressed i...

Platelet adhesion and thrombus formation on subendothelium, studied at a shear rate of 2,600 s'l, were inhibited by two synthetic peptides known to interact with GPIIb-IIIa. One peptide (HHLGGAKQAGDV) corresponds to the carboxyl terminal segment of the fibrinogen y-chain ('y400411) and the other (RGDS) contains the amino acid sequence Arg-Gly-Asp (RGD) common to fibronectin, von Willebrand factor, vitronectin and the a-chain of fibrinogen. Neither platelet adhesion nor thrombus formation were decreased in a patient with severe congenital fibrinogen deficiency and this was equally true when his blood was further depleted of the small amounts of fibrinogen present utilizing an anti-fibrinogen antibody. In normal subjects, adhesion and thrombus formation were inhibited by the Fab' fragments of a monoclonal anti-GPIIb-IIIa antibody (LJ-CP8), which interferes with the interaction of platelets with all four adhesive proteins in both the fluid and solid phase. However, another anti-GPIIb-IIIa antibody (LJ-PS) that had minimal effects on the interaction of platelets with fibrinogen, but inhibited to varying degrees platelet interaction with other adhesive proteins, was equally effective. The findings demonstrate that, at a shear rate of 2,600 s5, adhesive proteins other than fibrinogen are involved in GPIIb-IIIa-mediated platelet adhesion and thrombus formation on subendothelium. In addition, since LJ-P5 inhibited the binding of soluble von Willebrand factor and vitronectin, these adhesive proteins may be involved in platelet thrombus formation. In contrast to the results obtained at a shear rate of 2,600 s51, fibrinogen could play a role in mediating platelet-platelet interactions with weak agonists or lower shear rates.

Lipopolysaccharide (LPS), a maijor envelope component of Gram-negative bacteria, is the most frequent causative agent of septic shock and disseminated intravascular coagulation. LPS activates both CD14-positive (monocytes, macrophages, polymorphonuclear leukocytes) and CD14-negative (B-cell lines, endothelial cells) cells. CD14, a 55-kDa glycosyl-phosphatidylinositol-anchored membrane protein present on mature myeloid cells, serves as a receptor for LPS in complex with a soluble (serum-derived) LPS-binding protein (LBP). In this report, we show that human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC), which do not express measurable CD14 protein, become 3000-fold more sensitive to LPS-induced activation in the presence of serum, as measured by activation of the transcription factor NF-KB and expression of mRNA encoding tissue factor, a procoagulant molecule. This enhanced responsiveness of HUVEC is specifically mediated by the cell-free pool of CD14 (soluble CD14, sCD14) found in serum. The role of sCD14 in HUVEC activation by LPS was established by .(l) the blocking effect of monoclonal anti-CD14 antibodies which discriminate between cell-bound and sCD14,(ii) the lack of the serum-enhancing effect after immunodepletion of sCD14, and (iiW) establishing a reconstituted system in which recombinant sCD14 was sufficient to enhance the effects of LPS in the absence of serum and without a requirement for LBP. Thus, this mechanism of endothelial cell activation by LPS involves a cell-free pool of sCD14 most likely shed from CD14-positive cells of the monocytic lineage.