scholarly journals Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinase p38 Controls the Expression and Posttranslational Modification of Tristetraprolin, a Regulator of Tumor Necrosis Factor Alpha mRNA Stability

2001 ◽  
Vol 21 (19) ◽  
pp. 6461-6469 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kamal R. Mahtani ◽  
Matthew Brook ◽  
Jonathan L. E. Dean ◽  
Gareth Sully ◽  
Jeremy Saklatvala ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT Signal transduction pathways regulate gene expression in part by modulating the stability of specific mRNAs. For example, the mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) p38 pathway mediates stabilization of tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) mRNA in myeloid cells stimulated with bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS). The zinc finger protein tristetraprolin (TTP) is expressed in response to LPS and regulates the stability of TNF-α mRNA. We show that stimulation of RAW264.7 mouse macrophages with LPS induces the binding of TTP to the TNF-α 3′ untranslated region. The p38 pathway is required for the induction of TNF-α RNA-binding activity and for the expression of TTP protein and mRNA. Following stimulation with LPS, TTP is expressed in multiple, differentially phosphorylated forms. We present evidence that phosphorylation of TTP is mediated by the p38-regulated kinase MAPKAPK2 (MAPK-activated protein kinase 2). Our findings demonstrate a direct link between a specific signal transduction pathway and a specific RNA-binding protein, both of which are known to regulate TNF-α gene expression at a posttranscriptional level.

2001 ◽  
Vol 69 (3) ◽  
pp. 1273-1279 ◽  
Author(s):  
Hubertus P. A. Jersmann ◽  
Charles S. T. Hii ◽  
Judith V. Ferrante ◽  
Antonio Ferrante

ABSTRACT One of the recognized associations of bacterial infection with cardiovascular events is the activation of endothelium and upregulation of adhesion molecules. The two major proinflammatory mediators implicated in the causation of cardiovascular events, bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF), were found to cooperate to enhance the adhesive properties of endothelial cells. These caused synergistic upregulation of intercellular adhesion molecule-1, E-selectin, and vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 in human umbilical vein endothelial cells as determined by flow cytometry analysis and enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay. This synergism was not due to TNF causing an upregulation of CD14 expression. Treatment with both LPS and TNF resulted in a marked increase in the translocation of NF-κB into the nucleus. The activity of p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase was also synergistically enhanced, while the activity of c-jun N-terminal kinase was increased in an additive manner. The results demonstrate that LPS and TNF act synergistically to upregulate the expression of endothelial cell adhesion molecules, possibly by amplification of signaling pathways upstream of transcription. These findings have implications for the understanding of the acceleration of atherosclerotic events seen in low-grade infections with gram-negative organisms.


2020 ◽  
Vol 88 (4) ◽  
Author(s):  
Xingzhao Ji ◽  
Xiujuan Zhang ◽  
Heqiao Li ◽  
Lina Sun ◽  
Xuexin Hou ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT The mechanism underlying the pathogenesis of Nocardia is not fully known. The Nfa34810 protein of Nocardia farcinica has been predicted to be a virulence factor. However, relatively little is known regarding the interaction of Nfa34810 with host cells, specifically invasion and innate immune activation. In this study, we aimed to determine the role of recombinant Nfa34810 during infection. We demonstrated that Nfa34810 is an immunodominant protein located in the cell wall. Nfa34810 protein was able to facilitate the uptake and internalization of latex beads coated with Nfa34810 protein into HeLa cells. Furthermore, the deletion of the nfa34810 gene in N. farcinica attenuated the ability of the bacteria to infect both HeLa and A549 cells. Moreover, stimulation with Nfa34810 triggered macrophages to produce tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α), and it also activated mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) and nuclear factor κB (NF-κB) signaling pathways by inducing the phosphorylation of ERK1/2, p38, JNK, p65, and AKT in macrophages. Specific inhibitors of ERK1/2, JNK, and NF-κB significantly reduced the expression of TNF-α, which demonstrated that Nfa34810-mediated TNF-α production was dependent upon the activation of these kinases. We further found that neutralizing antibodies against Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) significantly inhibited TNF-α secretion. Taken together, our results indicated that Nfa34810 is a virulence factor of N. farcinica and plays an important role during infection. Nfa34810-induced production of TNF-α in macrophages also involves ERK, JNK, and NF-κB via the TLR4 pathway.


2013 ◽  
Vol 20 (9) ◽  
pp. 1396-1404 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura Brudecki ◽  
Donald A. Ferguson ◽  
Charles E. McCall ◽  
Mohamed El Gazzar

ABSTRACTAutotoxic production of proinflammatory mediators during early sepsis induces excessive inflammation, and their later suppression may limit the immune response. We previously reported that sepsis differentially represses transcription and translation of tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) and interleukin 1β (IL-1β) to reprogram sepsis inflammation. This switch is gene specific and plays a crucial role in the clinically relevant syndrome of endotoxin adaptation/tolerance, multiorgan failure, and poor sepsis outcome. To further define the mechanisms responsible for translation disruption that follows inflammation induction, we used THP-1 human promonocytes as a model of Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) responses found in sepsis. We showed that phosphorylation-dependent activation of p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) and translation disruption of TNF-α and IL-6 follow increased MAPK phosphatase 1 (MKP-1) expression and that MKP-1 knockdown rephosphorylates p38 and restores the capacity to translate TNF-α and IL-6 mRNAs. We also observed that the RNA-binding protein motif 4 (RBM4), a p38 MAPK target, accumulates in an unphosphorylated form in the cytosol in endotoxin-adapted cells, suggesting that dephosphorylated RBM4 may function as a translational repressor. Moreover, MKP-1 knockdown promotes RBM4 phosphorylation, blocks its transfer from the nucleus to the cytosol, and reverses translation repression. We also found that microRNA 146a (miR-146a) knockdown prevents and miR-146a transfection induces MKP-1 expression, which lead to increases or decreases in TNF-α and IL-6 translation, respectively. We conclude that a TLR4-, miR-146a-, p38 MAPK-, and MKP-1-dependent autoregulatory pathway regulates the translation of proinflammatory genes during the acute inflammatory response by spatially and temporally modifying the phosphorylation state of RBM4 translational repressor protein.


2005 ◽  
Vol 79 (16) ◽  
pp. 10147-10154 ◽  
Author(s):  
Davy C. W. Lee ◽  
Chung-Yan Cheung ◽  
Anna H. Y. Law ◽  
Chris K. P. Mok ◽  
Malik Peiris ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT Avian influenza A virus subtype H5N1 can infect humans to cause a severe viral pneumonia with mortality rates of more than 30%. The biological basis for this unusual disease severity is not fully understood. We previously demonstrated that in contrast to human influenza A virus subtypes including H1N1 or H3N2, the H5N1 virus associated with the “bird flu” outbreak in Hong Kong in 1997 (H5N1/97) hyperinduces proinflammatory cytokines, including tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α), in primary human macrophages in vitro. To delineate the molecular mechanisms involved, we analyzed the role of transcription factor NF-κB and cellular kinases in TNF-α dysregulation. H5N1 and H1N1 viruses did not differ in the activation of NF-κB or degradation of IκB-α in human macrophages. However, we demonstrated that unlike H1N1 virus, H5N1/97 strongly activates mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK), including p38 MAPK and extracellular signal-regulated kinases 1 and 2. Specific inhibitors of p38 MAPK significantly reduced the H5N1/97-induced TNF-α expression in macrophages. Taken together, our findings suggest that H5N1/97-mediated hyperinduction of cytokines involves the p38 MAPK signaling pathway. These results may provide insights into the pathogenesis of H5N1 disease and rationales for the development of novel therapeutic strategies.


2002 ◽  
Vol 70 (12) ◽  
pp. 7165-7168 ◽  
Author(s):  
Bruce W. Jarvis ◽  
Tajie H. Harris ◽  
Nilofer Qureshi ◽  
Gary A. Splitter

ABSTRACT The intracellular, gram-negative pathogen Brucella abortus establishes chronic infections in host macrophages while downregulating cytokines such as tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α). When producing TNF-α, Brucella abortus rough lipopolysaccharide (LPS) activates the same mitogen-activated protein kinase signaling pathways (ERK and JNK) as Escherichia coli LPS, but Brucella LPS is a much less potent agonist.


2006 ◽  
Vol 75 (1) ◽  
pp. 270-277 ◽  
Author(s):  
Chris M. Olson ◽  
Michael N. Hedrick ◽  
Hooman Izadi ◽  
Tonya C. Bates ◽  
Elias R. Olivera ◽  
...  

ABSTRACT The interaction of Borrelia burgdorferi, the causative agent of Lyme borreliosis, with phagocytic cells induces the activation of NF-κB and the expression of proinflammatory cytokines including tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α). B. burgdorferi-induced TNF-α production is also dependent on the activation of p38 mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinase. The specific contribution of these signaling pathways to the response of phagocytic cells to the spirochete and the molecular mechanisms underlying this response remain unresolved. We now show that p38 MAP kinase activity regulates the transcriptional activation of NF-κB in response to spirochetal lysate stimulation of phagocytic cells. The regulation occurs at the nuclear level and is independent of the translocation of the transcription factor to the nucleus or its capacity to bind to specific DNA target sequences. In RAW264.7 cells, p38α MAP kinase regulates the phosphorylation of NF-κB RelA. p38 MAP kinase phosphorylates the nuclear kinase mitogen- and stress-activated protein kinase 1 (MSK1). MSK1 in turn phosphorylates the transcriptionally active subunit of NF-κB, RelA. The repression of MSK1 expression with small interfering RNA results in reduced RelA phosphorylation and a significant decrease in the production of TNF-α in response to B. burgdorferi lysates. Overall, these results clarify the contribution of the signaling pathways that are activated in response to the interaction of spirochetes with phagocytic cells to TNF-α production. Our results situate p38 MAP kinase activity as a central regulator of the phagocytic proinflammatory response through MSK1-mediated transcriptional activation of the transcription factor NF-κB.


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