The modulation of cell signaling by free radicals is important for the pathogenesis of inflammatory diseases. Recently, we have shown that NO reduces IL-1β-induced matrix metalloproteinase (MMP-9) expression in glomerular mesangial cells (MC). Here we report that exogenously administrated superoxide, generated by the hypoxanthine/xanthine oxidase system (HXXO) or by the redox cycler 2,3-dimethoxy-1,4-naphtoquinone, caused a marked amplification of IL-1β-primed, steady state, MMP-9 mRNA level and an increase in gelatinolytic activity in the conditioned medium. Superoxide generators alone were ineffective. Cytokine-induced steady state mRNA levels of TIMP-1, an endogenous inhibitor of MMP-9, were affected similarly by HXXO. Transient transfection of rat mesangial cells with 0.6 kb of the 5′-flanking region of the rat MMP-9 gene proved a transcriptional regulation of MMP-9 expression by superoxide. HXXO augmented the IL-1β-triggered nuclear translocation of p65 and c-Jun and, in parallel, increased DNA binding activities of NF-κB and AP-1. Mutation of either response element completely prevented MMP-9 promoter activation by IL-1β. Moreover, specific inhibitors of the classical extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK) pathway and p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) cascade, partially reversed the HXXO-mediated effects on MMP-9 mRNA levels, thus demonstrating involvement of ERKs and p38 MAPKs in MMP-9 expression. Furthermore, IL-1β-triggered phosphorylation of all three MAPKs, including p38-MAPK, c-Jun N-terminal kinase, and ERK, was substantially enhanced by superoxide. Our data identify superoxide as a costimulatory factor amplifying cytokine-induced MMP-9 expression by interfering with the signaling cascades leading to the activation of AP-1 and NF-κB.
We conclude that NO modulates cytokine-mediated expression of MMP-9 and TIMP-1 in rat MCs in culture. Our results provide evidence that NO-mediated attenuation of MMP-9 gelatinolytic activity is primarily due to a reduced expression of MMP-9 mRNA, and not the result of direct inhibition of enzymatic activity.
Nitric oxide (NO) modulates transcription factors that bind specific cis-regulatory DNA responsible for coordinating the spatial and temporal patterns of gene expression that are initiated by a changing microenvironment. In this way NO helps to orchestrate gene transcription and forms the basis of functional cell responses to accommodate metabolic requirements and to coordinate endogenous defense mechanisms against a variety of stress and disease conditions. There is marked overlap between the signalling pathways triggered by NO, superoxide, and hypoxia. Understanding the redox-based regulation of signal transduction and gene expression will provide insights into how cell activities are constantly coordinated and how promising new therapies may be developed.
H2S is an important signalling molecule involved in diverse biological processes. It mediates the formation of cysteine persulfides (R-S-SH), which affect the activity of target proteins. Like thiols, persulfides show reactivity towards electrophiles and behave similarly to other cysteine modifications in a biotin switch assay. In this manuscript, we report on qPerS-SID a mass spectrometry-based method allowing the isolation of persulfide containing peptides in the mammalian proteome. With this method, we demonstrated that H2S donors differ in their efficacy to induce persulfides in HEK293 cells. Furthermore, data analysis revealed that persulfide formation affects all subcellular compartments and various cellular processes. Negatively charged amino acids appeared more frequently adjacent to cysteines forming persulfides. We confirmed our proteomic data using pyruvate kinase M2 as a model protein and showed that several cysteine residues are prone to persulfide formation finally leading to its inactivation. Taken together, the site-specific identification of persulfides on a proteome scale can help to identify target proteins involved in H2S signalling and enlightens the biology of H2S and its releasing agents.
During glomerular inflammation mesangial cells are the major source and target of nitric oxide that profoundly influences proliferation, adhesion, and death of mesangial cells. The effect of nitric oxide on the mRNA expression pattern of cultured rat mesangial cells was therefore investigated by RNA-arbitrarily-primed polymerase chain reaction. Employing this approach, biglycan expression turned out to be down-regulated timeand dose-dependently either by interleukin-1-stimulated endogenous nitric oxide production or by direct application of the exogenous nitric oxide donor, diethylenetriamine nitric oxide. There was a corresponding decline in the rate of biglycan biosynthesis and in the steady state level of this proteoglycan. In vivo, in a model of mesangioproliferative glomerulonephritis upregulation of inducible nitric-oxide synthase mRNA was associated with reduced expression of biglycan in isolated glomeruli. Biglycan expression could be normalized, both in vitro and in vivo, by using a specific inhibitor of the inducible nitric-oxide synthase, l-N 6 -(l-iminoethyl)-l-lysine dihydrochloride. Further studies showed that biglycan inhibited cell adhesion on type I collagen and fibronectin because of its binding to these substrates. More importantly, biglycan protected mesangial cells from apoptosis by decreasing caspase-3 activity, and it counteracted the proliferative effects of platelet-derived growth factor-BB. These findings indicate a signaling role of biglycan and describe a novel pathomechanism by which nitric oxide modulates the course of renal glomerular disease through regulation of biglycan expression.
Rat renal mesangial cells express high levels of matrix metalloproteinase 9 (MMP-9) in response to inflammatory cytokines such as interleukin 1 (IL-1). We tested whether ligands of the peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor (PPAR␣) could influence the cytokineinduced expression of MMP-9. Different PPAR␣ agonists dose-dependently inhibited the IL-1-triggered increase in gelatinolytic activity mainly by decreasing the MMP-9 steady-state mRNA levels. PPAR␣ agonists on their own had no effects on MMP-9 mRNA levels and gelatinolytic activity. Surprisingly, the reduction of MMP-9 mRNA levels by PPAR␣ activators contrasted with an amplification of cytokine-mediated MMP-9 gene promoter activity and mRNA expression. The potentiation of MMP-9 promoter activity functionally depends on an upstream peroxisome proliferator-responsive element-like binding site, which displayed an increased DNA binding of a PPAR␣ immunopositive complex. In contrast, the IL-1-induced DNA-binding of nuclear factor B was significantly impaired by PPAR␣ agonists. Most interestingly, in the presence of an inducible nitric-oxide synthase (iNOS) inhibitor, the PPAR␣-mediated suppression switched to a strong amplification of IL-1-triggered MMP-9 mRNA expression. Concomitantly, activators of PPAR␣ potentiated the cytokineinduced iNOS expression. Using actinomycin D, we found that NO, but not PPAR␣ activators, strongly reduced the stability of MMP-9 mRNA. In contrast, the stability of MMP-9 protein was not affected by PPAR␣ activators. In summary, our data suggest that the inhibitory effects of PPAR␣ agonists on cytokine-induced MMP-9 expression are indirect and primarily due to a superinduction of iNOS with high levels of NO reducing the half-life of MMP-9 mRNA.Dysregulation of extracellular matrix turnover is an important feature of glomerular inflammatory processes and may result in the loss of the mechanical and functional integrity of the glomerulus (1-3). Physiologically, the balance between synthesis and degradation of matrix proteins is guaranteed by the action of a family of zinc-dependent, neutral proteinases designated matrix metalloproteases (MMPs).1 A tight regulation of these proteases is accomplished by different mechanisms, including the regulation of gene expression, the processing of the inactive zymogenes by other proteases, and finally, the inhibition of the active enzymes by the action of endogenous inhibitors of MMPs, the TIMPs (for review, see Ref. 4). Cultured mesangial cells (MC) respond to proinflammatory cytokines such as tumor necrosis factor or interleukin-1 (IL-1) with the production of several MMPs, including MMP-9 (gelatinase-B), mainly due to an increase in gene transcription (5, 6). The transcriptional regulation of the rat MMP-9 gene by proinflammatory cytokines is localized to a 0.7-kb region upstream from the transcriptional start site and critically depends on the binding sites for activator protein-1 (AP-1) and nuclear factor B (NF-B) transcription factors, respectively (5, 7). Besides MMP-9, MC under inf...
Nitric oxide is a crucial mediator of several forms of glomerulonephritis. We examined the effects of NO on the mRNA expression pattern in glomerular mesangial cells by using a low-stringency reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction method and detected a cDNA fragment that was induced by interleukin 1b (IL-1b) and further up-regulated by the NO donor diethylenetriamine-nitric oxide (DETA-NO). Each respective cDNA fragment was found to match with the cDNAs of rat macrophage inflammatory protein 2 (MIP-2) and GRO/cytokine-induced neutrophil chemoattractant 2b (CINC-2b). Further characterization of MIP-2 regulation by Northern blot analysis confirmed an NO- and IL-1b-dependent increase in MIP-2 mRNA levels. Moreover, inhibition of IL-1b-induced endogenous NO formation by the NO-synthase (NOS) inhibitor L-NMMA markedly attenuated MIP-2 protein expression. We cloned 770 bp of the 5'-flanking region of rat MIP-2 and fused this fragment to a luciferase reporter gene. Transfection of the construct into mesangial cells resulted in a 3.5-fold increase in luciferase activity in cells treated with DETA-NO when compared to controls, suggesting a transcriptional mechanism for NO-induced MIP-2 expression. Deletion and mutational analysis identified critical nuclear factor (NF)-kB and NF-IL-6 binding sites required for NO regulation of MIP-2. In vivo, inhibition of NO synthesis in the Thy-1.1 model of mesangioproliferative glomerulonephritis by the specific inducible-NOS inhibitor L-NIL resulted in a marked reduction of MIP-2 mRNA expression. Furthermore, infiltration of neutrophils into the glomerulus was dramatically attenuated in L-NIL-treated rats.
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