Activation of TGF-β-Smad signaling pathway following polyamine depletion in intestinal epithelial cells

2003 ◽  
Vol 285 (5) ◽  
pp. G1056-G1067 ◽  
Author(s):  
Lan Liu ◽  
Rachel Santora ◽  
Jaladanki N. Rao ◽  
Xin Guo ◽  
Tongtong Zou ◽  
...  

Smad proteins are transcription activators that are critical for transmitting transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) superfamily signals from the cell surface receptors to the nucleus. Our previous studies have shown that cellular polyamines are essential for normal intestinal mucosal growth and that a decreased level of polyamines inhibits intestinal epithelial cell proliferation, at least partially, by increasing expression of TGF-β/TGF-β receptors. The current study went further to determine the possibility that Smads are the downstream intracellular effectors of activated TGF-β/TGF-β receptor signaling following polyamine depletion. Studies were conducted in IEC-6 cells derived from rat small intestinal crypts. Depletion of cellular polyamines by α-difluoromethylornithine (DFMO) increased basal levels of Smad3 and Smad4 proteins, induced their nuclear translocation, and stimulated Smad sequence-specific DNA-binding activity. Polyamine depletion-induced Smads were also associated with a significant increase in transcription activation as measured by luciferase reporter gene activity of Smad-dependent promoters. Inhibition of Smads by a dominant-negative mutant Smad4 in the DFMO-treated cells prevented the increased Smad transcription activation. Polyamine-deficient cells highly expressed TGF-β and were growth-arrested at the G1 phase. Inhibition of TGF-β by treatment with either immunoneutralizing anti-TGF-β antibody or TGF-β antisense oligodeoxyribonucleotides not only blocked the induction of Smad activity but also decreased the Smad-mediated transcriptional activation in polyamine-depleted cells. These findings suggest that Smads are involved in the downstream cellular processes mediated by cellular polyamines and that increased TGF-β/TGF-β receptor signaling following polyamine depletion activates Smads, thus resulting in the stimulation of Smad target gene expression.

2007 ◽  
Vol 27 (17) ◽  
pp. 6068-6083 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laurence Levy ◽  
Michael Howell ◽  
Debipriya Das ◽  
Sean Harkin ◽  
Vasso Episkopou ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT E3 ubiquitin ligases play important roles in regulating transforming growth factor β (TGF-β)/Smad signaling. Screening of an E3 ubiquitin ligase small interfering RNA library, using TGF-β induction of a Smad3/Smad4-dependent luciferase reporter as a readout, revealed that Arkadia is an E3 ubiquitin ligase that is absolutely required for this TGF-β response. Knockdown of Arkadia or overexpression of a dominant-negative mutant completely abolishes transcription from Smad3/Smad4-dependent reporters, but not from Smad1/Smad4-dependent reporters or from reporters driven by Smad2/Smad4/FoxH1 complexes. We show that Arkadia specifically activates transcription via Smad3/Smad4 binding sites by inducing degradation of the transcriptional repressor SnoN. Arkadia is essential for TGF-β-induced SnoN degradation, but it has little effect on SnoN levels in the absence of signal. Arkadia interacts with SnoN and induces its ubiquitination irrespective of TGF-β/Activin signaling, but SnoN is efficiently degraded only when it forms a complex with both Arkadia and phosphorylated Smad2 or Smad3. Finally, we describe an esophageal cancer cell line (SEG-1) that we show has lost Arkadia expression and is deficient for SnoN degradation. Reintroduction of wild-type Arkadia restores TGF-β-induced Smad3/Smad4-dependent transcription and SnoN degradation in these cells, raising the possibility that loss of Arkadia function may be relevant in cancer.


1996 ◽  
Vol 16 (4) ◽  
pp. 1842-1850 ◽  
Author(s):  
G Baier-Bitterlich ◽  
F Uberall ◽  
B Bauer ◽  
F Fresser ◽  
H Wachter ◽  
...  

T-lymphocyte stimulation requires activation of several protein kinases, including the major phorbol ester receptor protein kinase C (PKC), ultimately leading to induction of lymphokines, such as interleukin-2 (IL-2). The revelant PKC isoforms which are involved in the activation cascades of nuclear transcription factors involved in IL-2 production have not yet been clearly defined. We have examined the potential role of two representative PKC isoforms in the induction of the IL-2 gene, i.e., PKC-alpha and PKC-theta, the latter being expressed predominantly in hematopoietic cell lines, particularly T cells. Similar to that of PKC-alpha, PKC-theta overexpression in murine EL4 thymoma cells caused a significant increase in phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (PMA)-induced transcriptional activation of full-length IL-2-chloramphenicol acetyltransferase (CAT) and NF-AT-CAT but not of NF-IL2A-CAT or NF-kappaB promoter-CAT reporter gene constructs. Importantly, the critical AP-1 enhancer element was differentially modulated by these two distinct PKC isoenzymes, since only PKC-theta but not PKC-alpha overexpression resulted in an approximately 2.8-fold increase in AP-1-collagenase promoter CAT expression in comparison with the vector control. Deletion of the AP-1 enhancer site in the collagenase promoter rendered it unresponsive to PKC-theta. Expression of a constitutively active mutant PKC-theta A148E (but not PKC-alpha A25E) was sufficient to induce activation of AP-1 transcription factor complex in the absence of PMA stimulation. Conversely, a catalytically inactive PKC-theta K409R (but not PKC-alpha K368R) mutant abrogated endogenous PMA-mediated activation of AP-1 transcriptional complex. Dominant negative mutant Ha-RasS17N completely inhibited the PKC-O A148E-induced signal, PKC-O. Expression of a constitutively active mutant PKC-O A148E (but not PKC-alpha A25E) was sufficient to induce activation of AP-1 transcription factor complex in the absence of PMA stimulation. Conversely, a catalytically inactive PKC-O K409R (but not PKC-alpha K368R) mutant abrogated endogenous PMA-mediated activation of AP-1 transcriptional complex. Dominant negative mutant Ha-enRasS17N completely inhibited in the PKC-O A148E-induced signal, identifying PKC-theta as a specific constituent upstream of or parallel to Ras in the signaling cascade leading to AP transcriptional activation.


2001 ◽  
Vol 152 (4) ◽  
pp. 753-764 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nguyen Truc Bui ◽  
Antonia Livolsi ◽  
Jean-Francois Peyron ◽  
Jochen H.M. Prehn

NGF has been shown to support neuron survival by activating the transcription factor nuclear factor-κB (NFκB). We investigated the effect of NGF on the expression of Bcl-xL, an anti–apoptotic Bcl-2 family protein. Treatment of rat pheochromocytoma PC12 cells, human neuroblastoma SH-SY5Y cells, or primary rat hippocampal neurons with NGF (0.1–10 ng/ml) increased the expression of bcl-xL mRNA and protein. Reporter gene analysis revealed a significant increase in NFκB activity after treatment with NGF that was associated with increased nuclear translocation of the active NFκB p65 subunit. NGF-induced NFκB activity and Bcl-xL expression were inhibited in cells overexpressing the NFκB inhibitor, IκBα. Unlike tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), however, NGF-induced NFκB activation occurred without significant degradation of IκBs determined by Western blot analysis and time-lapse imaging of neurons expressing green fluorescent protein–tagged IκBα. Moreover, in contrast to TNF-α, NGF failed to phosphorylate IκBα at serine residue 32, but instead caused significant tyrosine phosphorylation. Overexpression of a Y42F mutant of IκBα potently suppressed NFG-, but not TNF-α–induced NFκB activation. Conversely, overexpression of a dominant negative mutant of TNF receptor-associated factor-6 blocked TNF-α–, but not NGF-induced NFκB activation. We conclude that NGF and TNF-α induce different signaling pathways in neurons to activate NFκB and bcl-x gene expression.


2001 ◽  
Vol 12 (10) ◽  
pp. 3139-3151 ◽  
Author(s):  
Nicolas Schrantz ◽  
Marie-Françoise Bourgeade ◽  
Shahul Mouhamad ◽  
Gérald Leca ◽  
Surendra Sharma ◽  
...  

On binding to its receptor, transforming growth factor β (TGFβ) induces apoptosis in a variety of cells, including human B lymphocytes. We have previously reported that TGFβ-mediated apoptosis is caspase-dependent and associated with activation of caspase-3. We show here that caspase-8 inhibitors strongly decrease TGFβ-mediated apoptosis in BL41 Burkitt's lymphoma cells. These inhibitors act upstream of the mitochondria because they inhibited the loss of mitochondrial membrane potential observed in TGFβ-treated cells. TGFβ induced caspase-8 activation in these cells as shown by the cleavage of specific substrates, including Bid, and the appearance of cleaved fragments of caspase-8. Our data show that TGFβ induces an apoptotic pathway involving sequential caspase-8 activation, loss of mitochondrial membrane potential, and caspase-9 and -3 activation. Caspase-8 activation was Fas-associated death domain protein (FADD)-independent because cells expressing a dominant negative mutant of FADD were still sensitive to TGFβ-induced caspase-8 activation and apoptosis. This FADD-independent pathway of caspase-8 activation is regulated by p38. Indeed, TGFβ-induced activation of p38 and two different inhibitors specific for this mitogen-activated protein kinase pathway (SB203580 and PD169316) prevented TGFβ-mediated caspase-8 activation as well as the loss of mitochondrial membrane potential and apoptosis. Overall, our data show that p38 activation by TGFβ induced an apoptotic pathway via FADD-independent activation of caspase-8.


2007 ◽  
Vol 404 (2) ◽  
pp. 179-190 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mark Windheim ◽  
Christine Lang ◽  
Mark Peggie ◽  
Lorna A. Plater ◽  
Philip Cohen

MDP (muramyl dipeptide), a component of peptidoglycan, interacts with NOD2 (nucleotide-binding oligomerization domain 2) stimulating the NOD2–RIP2 (receptor-interacting protein 2) complex to activate signalling pathways important for antibacterial defence. Here we demonstrate that the protein kinase activity of RIP2 has two functions, namely to limit the strength of downstream signalling and to stabilize the active enzyme. Thus pharmacological inhibition of RIP2 kinase with either SB 203580 [a p38 MAPK (mitogen-activated protein kinase) inhibitor] or the Src family kinase inhibitor PP2 induces a rapid and drastic decrease in the level of the RIP2 protein, which may explain why these RIP2 inhibitors block MDP-stimulated downstream signalling and the production of IL-1β (interleukin-1β) and TNFα (tumour necrosis factor-α). We also show that RIP2 induces the activation of the protein kinase TAK1 (transforming-growth-factor-β-activated kinase-1), that a dominant-negative mutant of TAK1 inhibits RIP2-induced activation of JNK (c-Jun N-terminal kinase) and p38α MAPK, and that signalling downstream of NOD2 or RIP2 is reduced by the TAK1 inhibitor (5Z)-7-oxozeaenol or in TAK1-deficient cells. We also show that MDP activates ERK1 (extracellular-signal-regulated kinase 1)/ERK2 and p38α MAPK in human peripheral-blood mononuclear cells and that the activity of both MAPKs and TAK1 are required for MDP-induced signalling and production of IL-1β and TNFα in these cells. Taken together, our results indicate that the MDP–NOD2/RIP2 and LPS (lipopolysaccharide)–TLR4 (Toll-like receptor 4) signalling pathways converge at the level of TAK1 and that many subsequent events that lead to the production of pro-inflammatory cytokines are common to both pathways.


2008 ◽  
Vol 28 (10) ◽  
pp. 3127-3138 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mary Truscott ◽  
Ryoko Harada ◽  
Charles Vadnais ◽  
François Robert ◽  
Alain Nepveu

ABSTRACT The transcription factor p110 CUX1 was shown to stimulate cell proliferation by accelerating entry into S phase. As p110 CUX1 can function as a transcriptional repressor or activator depending on promoter context, we investigated its mechanism of transcriptional activation using the DNA polymerase α gene promoter as a model system. Linker-scanning analysis revealed that a low-affinity E2F binding site is required for transcriptional activation. Moreover, coexpression with a dominant-negative mutant of DP-1 suggested that endogenous E2F factors are indeed needed for p110-mediated activation. Tandem affinity purification, coimmunoprecipitation, chromatin immunoprecipitation, and reporter assays indicated that p110 CUX1 can engage in weak protein-protein interactions with E2F1 and E2F2, stimulate their recruitment to the DNA polymerase α gene promoter, and cooperate with these factors in transcriptional activation. On the other hand, in vitro assays suggested that the interaction between CUX1 and E2F1 either is not direct or is regulated by posttranslational modifications. Genome-wide location analysis revealed that targets common to p110 CUX1 and E2F1 included many genes involved in cell cycle, DNA replication, and DNA repair. Comparison of the degree of enrichment for various E2F factors suggested that binding of p110 CUX1 to a promoter will favor the specific recruitment of E2F1, and to a lesser extent E2F2, over E2F3 and E2F4. Reporter assays on a subset of common targets confirmed that p110 CUX1 and E2F1 cooperate in their transcriptional activation. Overall, our results show that p110 CUX1 and E2F1 cooperate in the regulation of many cell cycle genes.


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