• BMB Reports
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• v.54 no.9
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• pp.482-487
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• 2021

Interferon regulatory factors (IRFs) play roles in various biological processes including cytokine signaling, cell growth regulation and hematopoietic development. Although it has been reported that several IRFs are involved in bone metabolism, the role of IRF2 in bone cells has not been elucidated. Here, we investigated the involvement of IRF2 in RANKL-induced osteoclast differentiation. IRF2 overexpression in osteoclast precursor cells enhanced osteoclast differentiation by regulating the expression of NFATc1, a master regulator of osteoclastogenesis. Conversely, IRF2 knockdown inhibited osteoclast differentiation and decreased the NFATc1 expression. Moreover, IRF2 increased the translocation of NF-κB subunit p65 to the nucleus in response to RANKL and subsequently induced the expression of NFATc1. IRF2 plays an important role in RANKL-induced osteoclast differentiation by regulating NF-κB/NFATc1 signaling pathway. Taken together, we demonstrated the molecular mechanism of IRF2 in osteoclast differentiation, and provide a molecular basis for potential therapeutic targets for the treatment of bone diseases characterized by excessive bone resorption.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.31 no.2
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• pp.226-232
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• 2021

Severe fever with thrombocytopenia syndrome virus (SFTSV) is an emerging phlebovirus of the Phenuiviridae family that has been circulating in the following Asian countries: Vietnam, Myanmar, Taiwan, China, Japan, and South Korea. Despite the increasing infection rates and relatively high mortality rate, there is limited information available regarding SFTSV pathogenesis. In addition, there are currently no vaccines or effective antiviral treatments available. Previous reports have shown that SFTSV suppresses the host immune response and its nonstructural proteins (NSs) function as an antagonist of type I interferon (IFN), whose induction is an essential part of the host defense system against viral infections. Given that SFTSV NSs suppress the innate immune response by inhibiting type I IFN, we investigated the mechanism utilized by SFTSV NSs to evade IFNmediated response. Our co-immunoprecipitation data suggest the interactions between NSs and retinoic acid inducible gene-I (RIG-I) or TANK binding kinase 1 (TBK1). Furthermore, confocal analysis indicates the ability of NSs to sequester RIG-I and related downstream molecules in the cytoplasmic structures called inclusion bodies (IBs). NSs are also capable of inhibiting TBK1-interferon regulatory factor 3 (IRF3) interaction, and therefore prevent the phosphorylation and nuclear translocation of IRF3 for the induction of type I IFN. The ability of SFTSV NSs to interact with and sequester TBK1 and IRF3 in IBs demonstrate an effective yet unique method utilized by SFTSV to evade and suppress host immunity.

• BMB Reports
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• v.54 no.11
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• pp.545-550
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• 2021

Anisomycin is known to inhibit eukaryotic protein synthesis and has been established as an antibiotic and anticancer drug. However, the molecular targets of anisomycin and its mechanism of action have not been explained in macrophages. Here, we demonstrated the anti-inflammatory effects of anisomycin both in vivo and in vitro. We found that anisomycin decreased the mortality rate of macrophages in cecal ligation and puncture (CLP)- and lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced acute sepsis. It also declined the gene expression of proinflammatory mediators such as inducible nitric oxide synthase, tumor necrosis factor-α, and interleukin-1β as well as the nitric oxide and proinflammatory cytokines production in macrophages subjected to LPS-induced acute sepsis. Furthermore, anisomycin attenuated nuclear factor (NF)-κB activation in LPS-induced macrophages, which correlated with the inhibition of phosphorylation of NF-κB-inducing kinase and IκB kinase, phosphorylation and IκBα proteolytic degradation, and NF-κB p65 subunit nuclear translocation. These results suggest that anisomycin prevented acute inflammation by inhibiting NF-κB-related inflammatory gene expression and could be a potential therapeutic candidate for sepsis.

• Journal of Physiology & Pathology in Korean Medicine
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• v.21 no.4
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• pp.1017-1024
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• 2007

Thymus and activation-regulated chemokine (TARC/CCL-17), produced by keratinocytes, is a CC chemokine known to selectively Th2 type T cells via $CCR4^+$ and is implicated in the development of atopic dermatitis (AD). TARC/CCL17 expression was induced by cytokines such as tumor necrosis factor-${\alpha}$ (TNF-${\alpha}$) and interferon-${\gamma}$ (IFN-${\gamma}$). We recently found that the wogonin, a flavone isolated from Scutellaria baicalensis, suppressed TARC expression via heme oxygenase 1 (HO1) in human keratinocytes induced with mite antigen. However, little is known about the inhibitory mechanism of wogonin on TARC/CCL-17 expression stimulated with cytokines. To investigate the inhibitory mechanism, I determined the inhibitory effects of wogonin on the activation of nuclear factor-${\kappa}B$ (NF-${\kappa}B$) and $I{\kappa}B{\alpha}$ phosphorylation, and also examined the activation of p38 MAP kainase in HaCaT keratinocytes stimulated with TNF-${\alpha}$ and IFN-${\gamma}$. Wogonin inhibited NF-${\kappa}B$-DNA complex, NF-${\kappa}B$ binding activity, and the phosphorylation of $I{\kappa}B{\alpha}$ in a dose dependent manner. Wogonin also inhibited the translocation of NF-${\kappa}B$ from cytosol to nucleus. Moreover, the phosphorylation of of p38 MAP kinase in the TNF-${\alpha}$ and IFN-${\gamma}$-stimulated HaCaT keratinocytes were suppressed by wogonin in a dose dependent manner. These results suggest that wogonin may inhibit cytokine-induced NF-${\kappa}B$ activation by $I{\kappa}B{\alpha}$ degradation via suppression of p38 MAP kinase signaling pathway in keratinocytes and modulation of wogonin signaling pathway may be beneficial for the treatment of AD.

• Animal cells and systems
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• v.14 no.1
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• pp.1-10
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• 2010

Previously we showed that CHIP, a co-chaperone of Hsp70 and E3 ubiquitin ligase, can promote the degradation of mutant SOD1 linked to familial amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (fALS) via a mechanism not involving SOD1 ubiquitylation. Here we present evidence that CHIP functions in the interaction of mutant SOD1 with 26S proteasomes. Bag-1, a coupling factor between molecular chaperones and the proteasomes, formed a complex with SOD1 in an hsp70-dependent manner but had no direct effect on the degradation of mutant SOD1. Instead, Bag-1 stimulated interaction between CHIP and the proteasome-associated protein VCP (p97), which do not associate normally. Over-expressed CHIP interfered with the association between mutant SOD1 and VCP. Conversely, the binding of CHIP to mutant SOD1 was inhibited by VCP, implying that the chaperone complex and proteolytic machinery are competing for the common substrates. Finally we observed that mutant SOD1 strongly associated with the 19S complex of proteasomes and CHIP over-expression specifically reduced the interaction between S6/S6' ATPase subunits and mutant SOD1. These results suggest that CHIP, together with ubiquitin-binding proteins such as Bag-1 and VCP, promotes the degradation of mutant SOD1 by facilitating its translocation from ATPase subunits of 19S complex to the 20S core particle.

• Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology
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• v.27 no.3
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• pp.610-615
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• 2017

When Shigella infect host cells, various effecter molecules are delivered into the cytoplasm of the host cell through the type III secretion system (TTSS) to facilitate their invasion process and control the host immune responses. Among these effectors, the S. flexneri effector OspF dephosphorylates mitogen-activated protein kinases and translocates itself to the nucleus, thus preventing histone H3 modification to regulate expression of proinflammatory cytokines. Despite the critical role of OspF, the mechanism by which it localizes in the nucleus has remained to be elucidated. In the present study, we identified a potential small ubiquitin-related modifier (SUMO) modification site within OspF and we demonstrated that Shigella TTSS effector OspF is conjugated with SUMO in the host cell and this modification mediates the nuclear translocation of OspF. Our results show a bacterial virulence factor can exploit host post-translational machinery to execute its intracellular trafficking.

• Biomedical Science Letters
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• v.25 no.4
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• pp.417-425
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• 2019

Cadmium (Cd) generates reactive oxygen species (ROS), which in turn cause the apoptosis of various cell types including developing germ cells in rodent testis. Ascorbic acids (AA), one of the ROS scavengers, had been reported to protect against Cd-induced apoptosis. N-Acetyl-L-cysteine (NAC), another ROS scavenger, is known to remove ROS and alleviate the Cd-induced apoptosis in various cell types. In this study we tried to elucidate how NAC affected on Cd-induced cell apoptosis in rat testis. Rats were administered with NAC before and after Cd treatment and then testicular cell apoptosis was examined. NAC treatment resulted in the reduction of Cd-induced chromosomal DNA fragmentation in agarose gel electrophoresis. Terminal deoxynucleotidyl transferase dUTP nick end-labeling (TUNEL) assay showed that treatment of NAC reduced the Cd-induced apoptosis of germ cells. The administration of NAC showed that the translocation of apoptosis inducing factor (AIF) from mitochondria to nucleus was prevented, which indicated that the mechanism of Cd-induced testicular apoptosis is mediated through the release of AIF in caspase-independent manner. Taken together, the NAC may remove Cd-induced ROS and protect ROS-induced cell apoptosis in rat testis.

• Korean journal of applied entomology
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• v.22 no.2 s.55
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• pp.147-159
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• 1983

In general, herbicides have been classified according to selectivity, mobility. time of application, methods of application, mode of action and chemical property and structure. However, there was no generally accepted classification system for practical use in the field. The primary processes affected by the majority of herbicides are the growth process through cell elongation and/or cell division, the photosynthetic process specifically the light reaction, the oxidative phosphorylation and the integrity of the membrane systems. The usual approach in the study of the mechanism by which herbicides kill or inhibit the growth of plants is to initially determine the morphological phototoxicity systems, The mechanism by which a herbicide kills a plant or suppresses its development is actually the resultant effect of primary and secondary(or side) effects. In most instances, the death of the plant is due to the secondary effects. To induce the desired response, a herbicide must be able to gain entry into the plants and once inside, to be transported within the plant to its site(s) of activity in concentrations great enough. Obstacles to the entry and movement of herbicides in plants are generally classified by leaf and soil obstacles, translocation obstacles and biochemical obstacles, and these obstacles are also strongly influenced by plant species and by environmental factors such as light, temperature, rainfall and relative humidity. And hence, in most instances, results obtained from laboratory or greenhous vary from those of field experiment. Author attempted to classify herbicides from the field experiment using the two-dimensional ordination analysis to obtain practical information for selecting effective herbicides or to choose effective herbicide combinations for increasing herbicidal efficacy or reducing the chemical cost. Based on this two-dimensional diagram, desired herbicides or combinations were selected and further investigated for the interaction effects whether these combinations are synergistic, additive or antagonistic. From the results, it was concluded that these new approach could possibly be give more comprehensive informations about effective use of herbicide than any other systems.

• The Journal of Korean Medicine Ophthalmology and Otolaryngology and Dermatology
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• v.23 no.1
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• pp.118-134
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• 2010

Objective: Yang Geouk San Hwa - Tang (YGSHT) has been widely used in Sasang Constitutional Medicine of Korea for treatment of acute inflammatory symptom, such as palatine tonsillitis, polydipsia, headache, papule, pimple however, the mechanism of its anti-inflammatory activity has not been clarified. In this study, therefore, we investigated the mechanism of the inhibitory effect of YGSHT on LPS-induced inflammation. Materials and methods: The effect of YGSHT was analyzed by ELISA, RT-PCR and Western blotting in LPS-stimulated RAW264.7 cells. Results: We found that YGSHT suppressed not only the production of pre-inflammatory cytokines (IL-$1{\beta}$ and TNF-$\alpha$), the generation of nitric oxide (NO) and prostaglandin E (PGE)2, but also the mRNA expression of pre-inflammatory cytokines, inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS), and cyclooxygenase (COX)-2. Furthermore, YGSHT was shown to inhibit the phosphorylation of ERK1/2 and JNK1/2 and the activation and translocation of NF-kB from cytosol to nuclear in LPS-stimulated RAW264.7 cells. Conclusions: These results suggest that YGSHT exerts an anti-inflammatory effect through the regulation of the ERK1/2 and JNK1/2 pathway and NF-kB pathway, thereby decreasing production of pre-inflammatory cytokines, NO, and PGE2.

• Journal of Integrative Natural Science
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• v.6 no.3
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• pp.125-137
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• 2013

Promising evidence suggests that amyloid beta peptide ($A{\beta}$), a key mediator in age-dependent neuronal and cerebrovascular degeneration, activates death signalling processes leading to neuronal as well as non-neuronal cell death in the central nervous system. A major cellular event in $A{\beta}$-induced apoptosis of non-neuronal cells, including cerebral endothelial cells, astrocytes and oligodendrocytes, is mitochondrial dysfunction. The apoptosis signalling cascade upstream of mitochondria entails $A{\beta}$ activation of neutral sphingomyelinase, resulting in the release of ceramide from membrane sphingomyelin. Ceramide then activates protein phosphatase 2A (PP2A), a member in the ceramide-activated protein phosphatase (CAPP) family. PP2A dephosphorylation of Akt and FKHRL1 plays a pivotal role in $A{\beta}$-induced Bad translocation to mitochondria and transactivation of Bim. Bad and Bim are pro-apoptotic proteins that cause mitochondrial dysfunction characterized by excessive ROS formation, mitochondrial DNA (mtDNA) damage, and release of mitochondrial apoptotic proteins including cytochrome c, apoptosis inducing factor (AIF), endonuclease G and Smac. The cellular events activated by $A{\beta}$ to induce death of non-neuronal cells are complex. Understanding these apoptosis signalling processes will aid in the development of more effective strategies to slow down age-dependent cerebrovascular degeneration caused by progressive cerebrovascular $A{\beta}$ deposition.