Dual regulation of il-1b-mediated matrix metalloproteinase-9 expression in mesangial cells by nf-kb and ap-1. Yokoo, Takashi, and Masanori Kitamura. Department of Medicine, University College London Medical School, The Rayne Institute, 5 University Street, London WC1E 6JJ, U.K.
APStracts 2:0131F, 1995.
Takashi Yokoo and Masanori Kitamura. Dual regulation of IL-1b-mediated matrix metalloproteinase-9 expression in mesangial cells by NF-kB and AP-1. Glomerular mesangial cells express matrix metalloproteinase-9 (MMP-9) in response to the proinflammatory cytokine IL-1b. To elucidate the signal transduction systems involved, we focused on the role of nuclear factor-kB (NF-kB) and activator protein-1 (AP-1) since the 5'-flanking region of MMP-9 gene contains binding sequences for these transacting molecules. In rat mesangial cells treated with an inhibitor of NF-kB, pyrrolidine dithiocarbamate, induction of MMP -9 by IL-1b was suppressed at both mRNA and protein levels. Mesangial cells stably transfected with a dominant negative mutant of NF-kB also showed blunted induction of MMP-9. Transient transfection study with a kB reporter construct revealed that IL-1b indeed activated the kB site and that pyrrolidine dithiocarbamate abolished this activation. These results suggest that IL-1b induced MMP-9 via the stimulation of NF-kB pathway. To examine whether tyrosine kinase is involved in this pathway, mesangial cells were stimulated by IL-1b in the presence of a tyrosine kinase inhibitor, genistein. This inhibitor dose-dependently suppressed the expression of MMP-9 as well as the activation of the kB site by IL-1b, indicating the involvement of tyrosine kinase in the stimulation of NF-kB. Since mesangial cells stimulated by IL-1b transiently expressed c-fos and c-jun mRNAs prior to the expression of MMP-9, the role of these genes in mediating the IL-1b response was further examined. Transfection of mesangial cells with a c-jun antisense cDNA and treatment with a pharmacological inhibitor of c-Jun/AP-1, curcumin revealed that the induction of c -Jun/AP-1 is essential for the expression of MMP-9 by IL-1b. Although protein kinase C (PKC) is regarded as a potential inducer of AP-1, stimulation of mesangial cells with phorbol myristate acetate failed to induce MMP-9. Similarly, depletion of intracellular PKC did not obviously affect the induction of MMP-9 by IL-1b. These findings demonstrate that dual-operation of tyrosine kinase-mediated NF-kB stimulation and c-Jun/AP-1 activation is essential to the induction of MMP-9 by IL-1b in cultured mesangial cells.

Received 15 February 1995; accepted in final form 17 July 1995.
APS Manuscript Number F55-5.
Article publication pending Am. J. Physiol. (Renal Fluid Electrolyte
Physiology).
ISSN 1080-4757 Copyright 1995 The American Physiological Society.
Published in APStracts on 14 August 1995.