The β-catenin/CBP signaling axis participates in sepsis-induced inflammatory lung injury

Abstract

Sepsis-induced inflammatory lung injury is a key factor causing failure of the lungs and other organs, as well as death, during sepsis. In the present study, a caecal ligation and puncture (CLP)-induced sepsis model was established to investigate the effect of β-catenin on sepsis-induced inflammatory lung injury and the corresponding underlying mechanisms. C57BL/6 mice were randomly divided into five groups, namely, the sham, CLP, β-catenin knockout (KO) + CLP, XAV-939 + CLP, and ICG-001 + CLP groups; the XAV-939 + CLP and ICG-001 + CLP groups were separately subjected to intraperitoneal injections of the β-catenin inhibitors XAV-939 and ICG-001 for 1 week preoperatively and 2 days postoperatively, respectively. Forty-eight hours after CLP, we measured β-catenin expression in lung tissues and evaluated mouse mortality, histopathological characteristics of hematoxylin and eosin (H&E)-stained lung tissues, serum cytokine (tumor necrosis factor [TNF]-α, interleukin [IL]-10, and IL-1β) levels, lung myeloperoxidase (MPO) activity, and the number of apoptotic cells in the lung tissues. Our results indicated that both the inhibition of β-catenin expression and blockage of β-catenin/CREB-binding protein (CBP) interactions by ICG-001 effectively decreased mouse mortality, alleviated pathological lung injury, and reduced the serum TNF-α, IL-10, and IL-1β levels, in addition to reducing the lung MPO activity and the number of apoptotic cells in lung tissues of the sepsis model mice. Therefore, it can be deduced that the β-catenin/CBP signaling axis participates in regulating sepsis-induced inflammatory lung injury.

A Protective Role of Canonical Wnt/β-Catenin Pathway in Pathogenic Bacteria-Induced Inflammatory Responses

“…In addition, β -catenin's role as an inflammatory inhibitor is demonstrated by its direct stimulation of the secretion of anti-inflammatory cytokine IL-10 by CREB. Phosphorylated CREB is capable of binding to IL-10 promotors with cAMP response elements, which then leads to a heightened expression of IL-10 [ 67 ]. In this perspective, blockage of β -catenin/CREB-binding protein (CBP) interactions by ICG-001 effectively decreased the serum IL-10 level [ 52 ], supporting such a conclusion.…”