Susan Stafford

The Differential Role of Extracellular Signal-Regulated Kinases and p38 Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinase in Eosinophil Functions

The activation of eosinophils by cytokines is a major event in the pathogenesis of allergic diseases. We have investigated the activation of mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinases and their functional relevance in eosinophil differentiation, survival, degranulation, and cytokine production. IL-5 induced phosphorylation and activation of extracellular signal-regulated kinases (ERK) and p38 MAP kinases in eosinophils. PD98059, a MAP/ERK kinase inhibitor, blocked phosphorylation of ERK1/2 in a dose-dependent manner. SB202190, a p38 inhibitor, blocked p38-dependent phosphorylation of activating transcription factor-2. To study the importance of the MAP kinases on eosinophil differentiation, we cultured mouse bone marrow cells with IL-3 and IL-5 in the presence of the inhibitors. SB202190 dramatically inhibited eosinophil differentiation by 71%. PD98059 was less potent and reduced eosinophil differentiation by 28%. Both inhibitors marginally inhibited eosinophil survival only at the highest doses. Prolonged incubation of eosinophils with IL-5 induced significant eosinophil-derived neurotoxin release. Both PD98059 and SB202190 nearly completely inhibited (87% and 100% inhibition, respectively) IL-5-stimulated eosinophil-derived neurotoxin release in a dose-dependent manner. Next, we examined the effect of the MAP kinase inhibitors on eosinophil production of the cytokine macrophage-inflammatory protein (MIP)-1α. PD98059 blocked C5a- but not ionomycin-induced MIP-1α production (59% inhibition at 50 μM concentration). In contrast, SB202190 nearly completely inhibited (99%) C5a-induced MIP-1α production. Further, it blocked ionomycin-stimulated production by 66%. Our results suggest that both p38 and ERK1/2 MAP kinases play an important role in eosinophil differentiation, cytokine production, and degranulation. The p38 MAP kinase plays a greater role than ERK1/2 in eosinophil differentiation and cytokine production.

Unc119, a Novel Activator of Lck/Fyn, Is Essential for T Cell Activation

The first step in T cell receptor for antigen (TCR) signaling is the activation of the receptor-bound Src kinases, Lck and Fyn. The exact mechanism of this process is unknown. Here, we report that the novel Src homology (SH) 3/SH2 ligand–Uncoordinated 119 (Unc119) associates with CD3 and CD4, and activates Lck and Fyn. Unc119 overexpression increases Lck/Fyn activity in T cells. In Unc119-deficient T cells, Lck/Fyn activity is dramatically reduced with concomitant decrease in interleukin 2 production and cellular proliferation. Reconstitution of cells with Unc119 reverses the signaling and functional outcome. Thus, Unc119 is a receptor-associated activator of Src-type kinases. It provides a novel mechanism of signal generation in the TCR complex.

The Functional Role of Rho and Rho-Associated Coiled-Coil Forming Protein Kinase in Eotaxin Signaling of Eosinophils

The CC chemokine eotaxin plays a pivotal role in local accumulation of eosinophils. Very little is known about the eotaxin signaling in eosinophils except the activation of the mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinase family. The p21 G protein Rho and its substrate Rho-associated coiled-coil forming protein kinase (ROCK) regulate the formation of stress fibers and focal adhesions. In the present study, we studied the functional relevance of Rho and ROCK in eosinophils using the ROCK inhibitor (Y-27632) and exoenzyme C3, a specific Rho inhibitor. Eotaxin stimulates activation of Rho A and ROCK II in eosinophils. Exoenzyme C3 almost completely inhibited the ROCK activity, indicating that ROCK is downstream of Rho. We then examined the role of Rho and ROCK in eosinophil chemotaxis. The eotaxin-induced eosinophil chemotaxis was significantly inhibited by exoenzyme C3 or Y-27632. Because extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK)1/2 and p38 MAP kinases are activated by eotaxin and are critical for eosinophil chemotaxis, we investigated whether Rho and ROCK are upstream of these MAP kinases. C3 partially inhibited eotaxin-induced phosphorylation of ERK1/2 but not p38. In contrast, neither ERK1/2 nor p38 phosphorylation was abrogated by Y-27632. Both C3 and Y-27632 reduced reactive oxygen species production from eosinophils. We conclude that both Rho and ROCK are important for eosinophil chemotaxis and reactive oxygen species production. There is a dichotomy of downstream signaling pathways of Rho, namely, Rho-ROCK and Rho-ERK pathways. Taken together, eosinophil chemotaxis is regulated by multiple signaling pathways that involve at least ROCK, ERK, and p38 MAP kinase.

Lyn Tyrosine Kinase Is Important for IL-5-Stimulated Eosinophil Differentiation

IL-5 plays a pivotal role in growth and differentiation of eosinophils. The signal transduction mechanism of IL-5Rα is largely unknown. We have demonstrated that IL-5 induces tyrosine phosphorylation of IL-5Rα in eosinophils. To identify IL-5Rα-associated tyrosine kinases, we have examined the expression of Src family tyrosine kinases in eosinophils. Among the Src family members, Lyn, Hck, Fgr, and Lck are present in eosinophils, and, among these four kinases, only Lyn is associated with the IL-5Rα under basal conditions. We also confirm the association of Janus kinase (Jak)2 with IL-5Rα. Lyn kinase phosphorylates both IL-5Rα and βcR in vitro. The importance of Lyn kinase for eosinophil differentiation was studied using antisense oligodeoxynucleotides. Lyn antisense oligodeoxynucleotide blocks eosinophil differentiation from stem cells in a dose-dependent manner. The Jak2 inhibitor tyrphostin AG490 also inhibits eosinophil differentiation. The importance of Lyn for eosinophil differentiation was further studied using Lyn knockout mice. The IL-5-stimulated eosinophil differentiation from bone marrow cells is significantly inhibited in Lyn−/− mice as compared with that in control mice. We conclude that both Lyn and Jak2 play an essential role in IL-5Rα signaling, leading to eosinophil differentiation. The effect of Lyn appears to be relatively specific for the eosinophilic lineage.

The lnterleukin-5/Receptor Interaction Activates Lyn and Jak2 Tyrosine Kinases and Propagates Signals via the Ras-Raf-1-MAP Kinase and the Jak-STAT Pathways in Eosinophils

We have shown that the interaction of interleukin (IL)-5 with the receptor activates Lyn tyrosine kinase within 1 min and Jak2 tyrosine kinase within 1-3 min. IL-5 also stimulates GTP binding to p21ras. The signal is subsequently propagated through the activation of Raf-1, MEK, and MAP kinases as shown by their increased autophosphorylation in vitro and phosphorylation in situ. Jak2 kinase has been shown to phosphorylate STAT nuclear proteins. The activation of STAT nuclear factors was studied by electrophoretic mobility shift assay using a gamma activation site (GAS) probe. We found that IL-5 induces two GAS-binding proteins in eosinophils, one of which is STAT1. We conclude that IL-5 induced signals are propagated through two distinct pathways: (1) Lyn-->Ras-->Raf-1-->MEK-->MAP kinase and (2) Jak2-->STAT1.

Quantification of cysteinyl S-nitrosylation by fluorescence in unbiased proteomic studies

Cysteinyl S-nitrosylation has emerged as an important post-translational modification affecting protein function in health and disease. Great emphasis has been placed on global, unbiased quantification of S-nitrosylated proteins because of physiologic and oxidative stimuli. However, current strategies have been hampered by sample loss and altered protein electrophoretic mobility. Here, we describe a novel quantitative approach that uses accurate, sensitive fluorescence modification of cysteine S-nitrosylation that leaves electrophoretic mobility unaffected (SNOFlo) and introduce unique concepts for measuring changes in S-nitrosylation status relative to protein abundance. Its efficacy in defining the functional S-nitrosoproteome is demonstrated in two diverse biological applications: an in vivo rat hypoxia-ischemia/reperfusion model and antimicrobial S-nitrosoglutathione-driven transnitrosylation of an enteric microbial pathogen. The suitability of this approach for investigating endogenous S-nitrosylation is further demonstrated using Ingenuity Pathways analysis that identified nervous system and cellular development networks as the top two networks. Functional analysis of differentially S-nitrosylated proteins indicated their involvement in apoptosis, branching morphogenesis of axons, cortical neurons, and sympathetic neurites, neurogenesis, and calcium signaling. Major abundance changes were also observed for fibrillar proteins known to be stress-responsive in neurons and glia. Thus, both examples demonstrate the techniques power in confirming the widespread involvement of S-nitrosylation in hypoxia-ischemia/reperfusion injury and in antimicrobial host responses.

Discovery Proteomics and Nonparametric Modeling Pipeline in the Development of a Candidate Biomarker Panel for Dengue Hemorrhagic Fever

Secondary dengue viral infection can produce capillary leakage associated with increased mortality known as dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF). Because the mortality of DHF can be reduced by early detection and intensive support, improved methods for its detection are needed. We applied multidimensional protein profiling to predict outcomes in a prospective dengue surveillance study in South America. Plasma samples taken from initial clinical presentation of acute dengue infection were subjected to proteomics analyses using ELISA and a recently developed biofluid analysis platform. Demographics, clinical laboratory measurements, nine cytokines, and 419 plasma proteins collected at the time of initial presentation were compared between the DF and DHF outcomes. Here, the subjects gender, clinical parameters, two cytokines, and 42 proteins discriminated between the outcomes. These factors were reduced by multivariate adaptive regression splines (MARS) that a highly accurate classification model based on eight discriminant features with an area under the receiver operator curve (AUC) of 0.999. Model analysis indicated that the feature–outcome relationship were nonlinear. Although this DHF risk model will need validation in a larger cohort, we conclude that approaches to develop predictive biomarker models for disease outcome will need to incorporate nonparametric modeling approaches. Clin Trans Sci 2012; Volume #: 1–13

Priming of Eosinophils by GM-CSF Is Mediated by Protein Kinase CβII-Phosphorylated L-Plastin

The priming of eosinophils by cytokines leading to augmented response to chemoattractants and degranulating stimuli is a characteristic feature of eosinophils in the course of allergic inflammation and asthma. Actin reorganization and integrin activation are implicated in eosinophil priming by GM-CSF, but their molecular mechanism of action is unknown. In this regard, we investigated the role of L-plastin, an eosinophil phosphoprotein that we identified from eosinophil proteome analysis. Phosphoproteomic analysis demonstrated the upregulation of phosphorylated L-plastin after eosinophil stimulation with GM-CSF. Additionally, coimmunoprecipitation studies demonstrated a complex formation of phosphorylated L-plastin with protein kinase CβII (PKCβII), GM-CSF receptor α-chain, and two actin-associated proteins, paxilin and cofilin. Inhibition of PKCβII with 4,5-bis(4-fluoroanilino)phtalimide or PKCβII-specific small interfering RNA blocked GM-CSF–induced phosphorylation of L-plastin. Furthermore, flow cytometric analysis also showed an upregulation of αMβ2 integrin, which was sensitive to PKCβII inhibition. In chemotaxis assay, GM-CSF treatment allowed eosinophils to respond to lower concentrations of eotaxin, which was abrogated by the above-mentioned PKCβII inhibitors. Similarly, inhibition of PKCβII blocked GM-CSF induced priming for degranulation as assessed by release of eosinophil cationic protein and eosinophil peroxidase in response to eotaxin. Importantly, eosinophil stimulation with a synthetic L-plastin peptide (residues 2–19) phosphorylated on Ser5 upregulated αMβ2 integrin expression and increased eosinophil migration in response to eotaxin independent of GM-CSF stimulation. Our results establish a causative role for PKCβII and L-plastin in linking GM-CSF–induced eosinophil priming for chemotaxis and degranulation to signaling events associated with integrin activation via induction of PKCβII-mediated L-plastin phosphorylation.

Toward the proteome of the human peripheral blood eosinophil

Eosinophils (EOSs) are granular leukocytes that have significant roles in many inflammatory and immunoregulatory responses, especially asthma and allergic diseases. We have undertaken a fairly comprehensive proteomic analysis of purified peripheral blood EOSs from normal human donors primarily employing 2‐DE with protein spot identification by MALDI‐MS. Protein subfractionation methods employed included IEF (Zoom® Fractionator) and subcellular fractionation using differential protein solubilization. We have identified 3141 proteins, which had Mascot expectation scores of 10−3 or less. Of these 426 were unique and non‐redundant of which 231 were novel proteins not previously reported to occur in EOSs. Ingenuity Pathway Analysis showed that some 70% of the non‐redundant proteins could be subdivided into categories that are clearly related to currently known EOS biological activities. Cytoskeletal and associated proteins predominated among the proteins identified. Extensive protein posttranslational modifications were evident, many of which have not been previously reported that reflected the dynamic character of the EOS. This data set of eosinophilic proteins will prove valuable in comparative studies of disease versus normal states and for studies of gender differences and polymorphic variation among individuals.

Interleukin-12 inhibits eosinophil differentiation from bone marrow stem cells in an interferon-γ-dependent manner in a mouse model of asthma

Background  Intrapulmonary administration of IL‐12 has been shown to inhibit the number of eosinophils in lung murine models of asthma, but the precise mechanism of this inhibition has not been reported. The purpose of this study was to examine whether IL‐12 treatment inhibits bone marrow eosinophilopoiesis, and to elucidate the role of IFN‐γ in this process.