scholarly journals Bone Morphogenetic Protein-Induced Msx1 and Msx2 Inhibit Myocardin-Dependent Smooth Muscle Gene Transcription

2006 ◽  
Vol 26 (24) ◽  
pp. 9456-9470 ◽  
Author(s):  
Ken'ichiro Hayashi ◽  
Seiji Nakamura ◽  
Wataru Nishida ◽  
Kenji Sobue

ABSTRACT During the onset and progression of atherosclerosis, the vascular smooth muscle cell (VSMC) phenotype changes from differentiated to dedifferentiated, and in some cases, this change is accompanied by osteogenic transition, resulting in vascular calcification. One characteristic of dedifferentiated VSMCs is the down-regulation of smooth muscle cell (SMC) marker gene expression. Bone morphogenetic proteins (BMPs), which are involved in the induction of osteogenic gene expression, are detected in calcified vasculature. In this study, we found that the BMP2-, BMP4-, and BMP6-induced expression of Msx transcription factors (Msx1 and Msx2) preceded the down-regulation of SMC marker expression in cultured differentiated VSMCs. Either Msx1 or Msx2 markedly reduced the myocardin-dependent promoter activities of SMC marker genes (SM22α and caldesmon). We further investigated interactions between Msx1 and myocardin/serum response factor (SRF)/CArG-box motif (cis element for SRF) using coimmunoprecipitation, gel-shift, and chromatin immunoprecipitation assays. Our results showed that Msx1 or Msx2 formed a ternary complex with SRF and myocardin and inhibited the binding of SRF or SRF/myocardin to the CArG-box motif, resulting in inhibition of their transcription.

2012 ◽  
Vol 44 (7) ◽  
pp. 417-429 ◽  
Author(s):  
Matthew R. Alexander ◽  
Meera Murgai ◽  
Christopher W. Moehle ◽  
Gary K. Owens

Smooth muscle cell (SMC) phenotypic modulation in atherosclerosis and in response to PDGF in vitro involves repression of differentiation marker genes and increases in SMC proliferation, migration, and matrix synthesis. However, SMCs within atherosclerotic plaques can also express a number of proinflammatory genes, and in cultured SMCs the inflammatory cytokine IL-1β represses SMC marker gene expression and induces inflammatory gene expression. Studies herein tested the hypothesis that IL-1β modulates SMC phenotype to a distinct inflammatory state relative to PDGF-DD. Genome-wide gene expression analysis of IL-1β- or PDGF-DD-treated SMCs revealed that although both stimuli repressed SMC differentiation marker gene expression, IL-1β distinctly induced expression of proinflammatory genes, while PDGF-DD primarily induced genes involved in cell proliferation. Promoters of inflammatory genes distinctly induced by IL-1β exhibited over-representation of NF-κB binding sites, and NF-κB inhibition in SMCs reduced IL-1β-induced upregulation of proinflammatory genes as well as repression of SMC differentiation marker genes. Interestingly, PDGF-DD-induced SMC marker gene repression was not NF-κB dependent. Finally, immunofluorescent staining of mouse atherosclerotic lesions revealed the presence of cells positive for the marker of an IL-1β-stimulated inflammatory SMC, chemokine (C-C motif) ligand 20 (CCL20), but not the PDGF-DD-induced gene, regulator of G protein signaling 17 (RGS17). Results demonstrate that IL-1β- but not PDGF-DD-induced phenotypic modulation of SMC is characterized by NF-κB-dependent activation of proinflammatory genes, suggesting the existence of a distinct inflammatory SMC phenotype. In addition, studies provide evidence for the possible utility of CCL20 and RGS17 as markers of inflammatory and proliferative state SMCs within atherosclerotic plaques in vivo.


1997 ◽  
Vol 17 (4) ◽  
pp. 2266-2278 ◽  
Author(s):  
S Kim ◽  
H S Ip ◽  
M M Lu ◽  
C Clendenin ◽  
M S Parmacek

The SM22alpha promoter has been used as a model system to define the molecular mechanisms that regulate smooth muscle cell (SMC) specific gene expression during mammalian development. The SM22alpha gene is expressed exclusively in vascular and visceral SMCs during postnatal development and is transiently expressed in the heart and somites during embryogenesis. Analysis of the SM22alpha promoter in transgenic mice revealed that 280 bp of 5' flanking sequence is sufficient to restrict expression of the lacZ reporter gene to arterial SMCs and the myotomal component of the somites. DNase I footprint and electrophoretic mobility shift analyses revealed that the SM22alpha promoter contains six nuclear protein binding sites (designated smooth muscle elements [SMEs] -1 to -6, respectively), two of which bind serum response factor (SRF) (SME-1 and SME-4). Mutational analyses demonstrated that a two-nucleotide substitution that selectively eliminates SRF binding to SME-4 decreases SM22alpha promoter activity in arterial SMCs by approximately 90%. Moreover, mutations that abolish binding of SRF to SME-1 and SME-4 or mutations that eliminate each SME-3 binding activity totally abolished SM22alpha promoter activity in the arterial SMCs and somites of transgenic mice. Finally, we have shown that a multimerized copy of SME-4 (bp -190 to -110) when linked to the minimal SM22alpha promoter (bp -90 to +41) is necessary and sufficient to direct high-level transcription in an SMC lineage-restricted fashion. Taken together, these data demonstrate that distinct transcriptional regulatory programs control SM22alpha gene expression in arterial versus visceral SMCs. Moreover, these data are consistent with a model in which combinatorial interactions between SRF and other transcription factors that bind to SME-4 (and that bind directly to SRF) activate transcription of the SM22alpha gene in arterial SMCs.


2007 ◽  
Vol 292 (2) ◽  
pp. C886-C895 ◽  
Author(s):  
Tadashi Yoshida ◽  
Qiong Gan ◽  
Yueting Shang ◽  
Gary K. Owens

A hallmark of smooth muscle cell (SMC) phenotypic switching is suppression of SMC marker gene expression. Although myocardin has been shown to be a key regulator of this process, the role of its related factors, MKL1 and MKL2, in SMC phenotypic switching remains unknown. The present studies were aimed at determining if: 1) MKL factors contribute to the expression of SMC marker genes in cultured SMCs; and 2) platelet-derived growth factor-BB (PDGF-BB)-induced repression of SMC marker genes is mediated by suppression of MKL factors. Results of gain- and loss-of-function experiments showed that MKL factors regulated the expression of single and multiple CArG [CC(AT-rich)6GG]-containing SMC marker genes, such as smooth muscle (SM) α-actin and telokin, but not CArG-independent SMC marker genes such as smoothelin-B. Treatment with PDGF-BB reduced the expression of CArG-containing SMC marker genes, as well as myocardin expression in cultured SMCs, while it had no effect on expression of MKL1 and MKL2. However, of interest, PDGF-BB induced the dissociation of MKL factors from the CArG-containing region of SMC marker genes, as determined by chromatin immunoprecipitation assays. This dissociation was caused by the competition between MKL factors and phosphorylated Elk-1 at early time points, but subsequently by the reduction in acetylated histone H4 levels at these promoter regions mediated by histone deacetylases, HDAC2, HDAC4, and HDAC5. Results provide novel evidence that PDGF-BB-induced repression of SMC marker genes is mediated through combinatorial mechanisms, including downregulation of myocardin expression and inhibition of the association of myocardin/MKL factors with CArG-containing SMC marker gene promoters.


2015 ◽  
Vol 35 (suppl_1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ning Shi ◽  
Xiao-Bing Cui ◽  
Shi-You Chen

Olfactomedin 2 (Olfm2) is a novel regulator for vascular smooth muscle cell (SMC) differentiation, but it is unclear whether Olfm2 is also involved in SMC phenotypic modulation, an important process associated with vascular injury. In this study, we found that Olfm2 was induced during PDGF-BB-induced SMC phenotypic modulation. Olfm2 knockdown attenuated PDGF-BB-induced suppression of SM marker genes including SM myosin heavy chain and SM22α, and also inhibited PDGF-BB-stimulated SMC proliferation and migration. On the other hand, Olfm2 overexpression down-regulated SM markers gene expression, and promoted SMC proliferation marker PCNA expression. Moreover, PDGF-BB slightly induced expression of Runx2, which interfered with the formation of SRF/myocardin ternary complex, but dramatically enhanced SRF-Runx2 interaction, suggesting that certain factors mediate SRF-Runx2 interaction. Indeed, Olfm2 physically interacted with both SRF and Runx2. Blockade of Olfm2 inhibited SRF association with Runx2, leading to increased association between SRF and myocardin, which in turn activated the transcription of SM markers, whereas overexpression of Olfm2 promoted SRF binding to Runx2. These results demonstrated that Olfm2 mediates the interaction between SRF and Runx2, contributing to SMC phenotypic modulation.


Author(s):  
Wenyan Li ◽  
Ping Deng ◽  
Junhua Wang ◽  
Zhaofeng Li ◽  
Huming Zhang

Abstract BACKGROUND MiR-17 is a small noncoding RNA that plays an important role in the development of tumorgenesis, which recently has emerged to be involved in regulation of inflammatory responses and angiogenesis. However, the effect and underlying mechanism of miR-17 on vascular smooth muscle cell (VSMC) phenotypic modulation have not been investigated. METHODS AND RESULTS In the current study, we observed that miR-17 expression tested by real-time polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) was downregulated in VSMCs administrated with platelet-derived growth factor-BB stimulation and carotid arteries subjected to wire injury, which were accompanied with decreased VSMC differentiation markers. Loss-of-function strategy demonstrated that miR-17 knockdown promoted VSMC phenotypic modulation characterized as decreased VSMC differentiation marker genes, increased proliferated and migrated capability of VSMC examined by RT-PCR and western blot analysis. Mechanistically, the bioinformatics analysis and luciferase assay demonstrated that miR-17 directly targeted Interferon Regulator Factor 9 (IRF9) and the upregulated IRF9 expression was responsible for the promoted effect miR-17 knockdown on VSMC phenotypic modulation. CONCLUSIONS Taken together, our results demonstrated that miR-17 knockdown accelerated VSMC phenotypic modulation partially through directly targeting to IRF9, which suggested that miR-17 may act as a novel therapeutic target for intimal hyperplasia management.


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