Ricci J. Haines

Non-muscle Mlck is required for β-catenin- and FoxO1-dependent downregulation of Cldn5 in IL-1β-mediated barrier dysfunction in brain endothelial cells

ABSTRACT Aberrant elevation in the levels of the pro-inflammatory cytokine interleukin-1&bgr; (IL-1&bgr;) contributes to neuroinflammatory diseases. Blood–brain barrier (BBB) dysfunction is a hallmark phenotype of neuroinflammation. It is known that IL-1&bgr; directly induces BBB hyperpermeability but the mechanisms remain unclear. Claudin-5 (Cldn5) is a tight junction protein found at endothelial cell–cell contacts that are crucial for maintaining brain microvascular endothelial cell (BMVEC) integrity. Transcriptional regulation of Cldn5 has been attributed to the transcription factors &bgr;-catenin and forkhead box protein O1 (FoxO1), and the signaling molecules regulating their nuclear translocation. Non-muscle myosin light chain kinase (nmMlck, encoded by the Mylk gene) is a key regulator involved in endothelial hyperpermeability, and IL-1&bgr; has been shown to mediate nmMlck-dependent barrier dysfunction in epithelia. Considering these factors, we tested the hypothesis that nmMlck modulates IL-1&bgr;-mediated downregulation of Cldn5 in BMVECs in a manner that depends on transcriptional repression mediated by &bgr;-catenin and FoxO1. We found that treating BMVECs with IL-1&bgr; induced barrier dysfunction concomitantly with the nuclear translocation of &bgr;-catenin and FoxO1 and the repression of Cldn5. Most importantly, using primary BMVECs isolated from mice null for nmMlck, we identified that Cldn5 repression caused by &bgr;-catenin and FoxO1 in IL-1&bgr;-mediated barrier dysfunction was dependent on nmMlck.

MicroRNA-147b regulates vascular endothelial barrier function by targeting ADAM15 expression.

A disintegrin and metalloproteinase15 (ADAM15) has been shown to be upregulated and mediate endothelial hyperpermeability during inflammation and sepsis. This molecule contains multiple functional domains with the ability to modulate diverse cellular processes including cell adhesion, extracellular matrix degradation, and ectodomain shedding of transmembrane proteins. These characteristics make ADAM15 an attractive therapeutic target in various diseases. The lack of pharmacological inhibitors specific to ADAM15 prompted our efforts to identify biological or molecular tools to alter its expression for further studying its function and therapeutic implications. The goal of this study was to determine if ADAM15-targeting microRNAs altered ADAM15-induced endothelial barrier dysfunction during septic challenge by bacterial lipopolysaccharide (LPS). An in silico analysis followed by luciferase reporter assay in human vascular endothelial cells identified miR-147b with the ability to target the 3′ UTR of ADAM15. Transfection with a miR-147b mimic led to decreased total, as well as cell surface expression of ADAM15 in endothelial cells, while miR-147b antagomir produced an opposite effect. Functionally, LPS-induced endothelial barrier dysfunction, evidenced by a reduction in transendothelial electric resistance and increase in albumin flux across endothelial monolayers, was attenuated in cells treated with miR-147b mimics. In contrast, miR-147b antagomir exerted a permeability-increasing effect in vascular endothelial cells similar to that caused by LPS. Taken together, these data suggest the potential role of miR147b in regulating endothelial barrier function by targeting ADAM15 expression.

Insulin transcriptionally regulates argininosuccinate synthase to maintain vascular endothelial function.

Diminished vascular endothelial cell nitric oxide (NO) production is a major factor in the complex pathogenesis of diabetes mellitus. In this report, we demonstrate that insulin not only maintains endothelial NO production through regulation of endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS), but also via the regulation of argininosuccinate synthase (AS), which is the rate-limiting step of the citrulline-NO cycle. Using serum starved, cultured vascular endothelial cells, we show that insulin up-regulates AS and eNOS transcription to support NO production. Moreover, we show that insulin enhances NO production in response to physiological cues such as bradykinin. To translate these results to an in vivo model, we show that AS transcription is diminished in coronary endothelial cells isolated from rats with streptozotocin (STZ)-induced diabetes. Importantly, we demonstrate restoration of AS and eNOS transcription by insulin treatment in STZ-diabetic rats, and show that this restoration was accompanied by improved endothelial function as measured by endothelium-dependent vasorelaxation. Overall, this report demonstrates, both in cell culture and whole animal studies, that insulin maintains vascular function, in part, through the maintenance of AS transcription, thus ensuring an adequate supply of arginine to maintain vascular endothelial response to physiological cues.

Protein Kinase Cα Phosphorylates a Novel Argininosuccinate Synthase Site at Serine 328 during Calcium-dependent Stimulation of Endothelial Nitric-oxide Synthase in Vascular Endothelial Cells

Background: Argininosuccinate synthase (AS) is critical for endothelial nitric oxide production, yet little is known about its regulation. Results: AS Ser-328 phosphorylation increased with calcium stimulation and decreased with PKCα interference. Conclusion: PKCα phosphorylates AS at Ser-328 under calcium-dependent stimulatory conditions to support nitric oxide production. Significance: Knowledge of how AS is regulated is essential in understanding nitric oxide homeostasis. Endothelial nitric-oxide synthase (eNOS) utilizes l-arginine as its principal substrate, converting it to l-citrulline and nitric oxide (NO). l-Citrulline is recycled to l-arginine by two enzymes, argininosuccinate synthase (AS) and argininosuccinate lyase, providing the substrate arginine for eNOS and NO production in endothelial cells. Together, these three enzymes, eNOS, AS, and argininosuccinate lyase, make up the citrulline-NO cycle. Although AS catalyzes the rate-limiting step in NO production, little is known about the regulation of AS in endothelial cells beyond the level of transcription. In this study, we showed that AS Ser-328 phosphorylation was coordinately regulated with eNOS Ser-1179 phosphorylation when bovine aortic endothelial cells were stimulated by either a calcium ionophore or thapsigargin to produce NO. Furthermore, using in vitro kinase assay, kinase inhibition studies, as well as protein kinase Cα (PKCα) knockdown experiments, we demonstrate that the calcium-dependent phosphorylation of AS Ser-328 is mediated by PKCα. Collectively, these findings suggest that phosphorylation of AS at Ser-328 is regulated in accordance with the calcium-dependent regulation of eNOS under conditions that promote NO production and are in keeping with the rate-limiting role of AS in the citrulline-NO cycle of vascular endothelial cells.

Protein tyrosine kinase 6 mediates TNFα-induced endothelial barrier dysfunction

A key event in the progression of systemic inflammation resulting from severe trauma or shock involves microvascular hyperpermeability, which leads to excessive plasma fluid and proteins accumulating in extravascular space resulting in tissue edema. The precise molecular mechanism of the hyperpermeability response is not completely understood. Protein tyrosine kinase 6 (PTK6, also known as breast tumor kinase BRK) is a non-receptor tyrosine kinase related to Src-family proteins. Although it has also been shown that PTK6 participates in regulating epithelial barrier function, the role of PTK6 in endothelial barrier function has not been reported. In this study, we hypothesized that PTK6 is (1) expressed in vascular endothelial cells, and (2) contributes to vascular endothelial hyperpermeability in response to TNFα. Results showed that PTK6 was detected in mouse endothelial cells at the level of protein and mRNA. In addition, PTK6 knockdown attenuated TNFα induced decrease in endothelial barrier function as measured by electric cell-substrate impedance sensing (ECIS) and in vitro transwell albumin-flux assays. Furthermore, we showed that TNFα treatment of endothelial cells increased active PTK6 association with p120-catenin at endothelial cell-cell junctions. Further analysis using immunocytochemistry and immunoprecipitation demonstrated that PTK6 knockdown attenuated TNFα induced VE-cadherin internalization as well as promoting its association with p120-catenin. Our study demonstrates a novel role of PTK6 in mediating endothelial barrier dysfunction.

TNFα/IFNγ Mediated Intestinal Epithelial Barrier Dysfunction Is Attenuated by MicroRNA-93 Downregulation of PTK6 in Mouse Colonic Epithelial Cells.

Since inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) represent significant morbidity and mortality in the US, the need for defining novel drug targets and inflammatory mechanisms would be of considerable benefit. Although protein tyrosine kinase 6 (PTK6, also known as breast tumor kinase BRK) has been primarily studied in an oncogenic context, it was noted that PTK6 null mice exhibited significantly enhanced colonic epithelial barrier function. Considering that the inflammatory functions of PTK6 have not yet been explored, we hypothesized that cytokines responsible for mediating IBD, such as TNFα/IFNγ, may solicit the action of PTK6 to alter barrier function. After first assessing critical mediators of TNFα/IFNγ driven epithelial barrier dysfunction, we further explored the possibility of PTK6 in this inflammatory context. In this report, we showed that PTK6 siRNA and PTK6 null young adult mouse colonic epithelial cells (YAMC) exhibited significant attenuation of TNFα/IFNγ induced barrier dysfunction as measured by electric cell-substrate impedance sensing (ECIS) assay and permeability assays. In addition, PTK6 null cells transfected with PTK6 cDNA displayed restored barrier dysfunction in response to TNFα/IFNγ, while the cells transfected with vector alone showed similar attenuation of barrier dysfunction. Furthermore, using subcellular fractionation and immunocytochemistry experiments, we found that PTK6 plays a role in FoxO1 nuclear accumulation leading to down-regulation of claudin-3, a tight junction protein. Moreover, we searched for relevant miRNA candidates putative for targeting PTK6 in order to identify and assess the impact of microRNA that target PTK6 with respect to TNFα/IFNγ induced barrier dysfunction. Subsequently, we assayed likely targets and determined their effectiveness in attenuating PTK6 expression as well as cytokine induced barrier dysfunction. Results showed that miR-93 reduced PTK6 expression and attenuated TNFα/IFNγ imposed decrease in transepithelial electrical resistance (TER), as well as excluded FoxO1 from the nucleus. Our results indicate that PTK6 may act as a novel mediator of intestinal epithelial permeability during inflammatory injury, and miR-93 may protect intestinal epithelial barrier function, at least in part, by targeting PTK6.

Interleukin-1β Mediates β-Catenin-Driven Downregulation of Claudin-3 and Barrier Dysfunction in Caco2 Cells

BackgroundIL-1β is a cytokine involved in mediating epithelial barrier dysfunction in the gut. It is known that IL-1β mediates activation of non-muscle myosin light chain kinase in epithelial cells, but the precise mechanism by which epithelial barrier dysfunction is induced by IL-1β is not understood.Methods and ResultsUsing a Caco2 cell model, we show that the expression of the tight junction protein, claudin-3, is transcriptionally downregulated by IL-1β treatment. In addition, after assessing protein and mRNA expression, and protein localization, we show that inhibition of nmMLCK rescues IL-1β-mediated decrease in claudin-3 expression as well as junction protein redistribution. Using chromatin immunoprecipitation assays, we also show that β-catenin targeting of the claudin-3 promoter occurs as a consequence of IL-1β-mediated epithelial barrier dysfunction, and inhibition of nmMLCK interferes with this interaction.ConclusionsTaken together, these data represent the first line of evidence demonstrating nmMLCK regulation of claudin-3 expression in response to IL-1β-treated epithelial cells.

Targeting palmitoyl acyltransferase ZDHHC21 improves gut epithelial barrier dysfunction resulting from burn-induced systemic inflammation

Clinical studies in burn patients demonstrate a close association between leaky guts and increased incidence or severity of sepsis and other complications. Severe thermal injury triggers intestinal inflammation that contributes to intestinal epithelial hyperpermeability, which exacerbates systemic response leading to multiple organ failure and sepsis. In this study, we identified a significant function of a particular palmitoyl acyltransferase, zinc finger DHHC domain-containing protein-21 (ZDHHC21), in mediating signaling events required for gut hyperpermeability induced by inflammation. Using quantitative PCR, we show that ZDHHC21 mRNA production was enhanced twofold when intestinal epithelial cells were treated with TNF-α-IFN-γ in vitro. In addition, pharmacological targeting of palmitoyl acyltransferases with 2-bromopalmitate (2-BP) showed significant improvement in TNF-α-IFN-γ-mediated epithelial barrier dysfunction by using electric cell-substrate impedance-sensing assays, as well as FITC-labeled dextran permeability assays. Using acyl-biotin exchange assay and click chemistry, we show that TNF-α-IFN-γ treatment of intestinal epithelial cells results in enhanced detection of total palmitoylated proteins and this response is inhibited by 2-BP. Using ZDHHC21-deficient mice or wild-type mice treated with 2-BP, we showed that mice with impaired ZDHHC21 expression or pharmacological inhibition resulted in attenuated intestinal barrier dysfunction caused by thermal injury. Moreover, hematoxylin and eosin staining of the small intestine, as well as transmission electron microscopy, showed that mice with genetic interruption of ZDHHC21 had attenuated villus structure disorganization associated with thermal injury-induced intestinal barrier damage. Taken together, these results suggest an important role of ZDHHC21 in mediating gut hyperpermeability resulting from thermal injury.NEW & NOTEWORTHY Increased mucosal permeability in the gut is one of the major complications following severe burn. Here we report the novel finding that zinc finger DHHC domain-containing protein-21 (ZDHHC21) mediates gut epithelial hyperpermeability resulting from an experimental model of thermal injury. The hyperpermeability response was significantly attenuated with a pharmacological inhibitor of palmitoyl acyltransferases and in mice with genetic ablation of ZDHHC21. These findings suggest that ZDHHC21 may serve as a novel therapeutic target for treating burn-induced intestinal barrier dysfunction.