6-Mercaptopurine attenuates tumor necrosis factor-α production in microglia through Nur77-mediated transrepression and PI3K/Akt/mTOR signaling-mediated translational regulation.

BACKGROUND: The pathogenesis of several neurodegenerative diseases often involves the microglial activation and associated inflammatory processes. Activated microglia release pro-inflammatory factors that may be neurotoxic. 6-Mercaptopurine (6-MP) is a well-established immunosuppressive drug. Common understanding of their immunosuppressive properties is largely limited to peripheral immune cells. However, the effect of 6-MP in the central nervous system, especially in microglia in the context of neuroinflammation is, as yet, unclear. Tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) is a key cytokine of the immune system that initiates and promotes neuroinflammation. The present study aimed to investigate the effect of 6-MP on TNF-α production by microglia to discern the molecular mechanisms of this modulation. METHODS: Lipopolysaccharide (LPS) was used to induce an inflammatory response in cultured primary microglia or murine BV-2 microglial cells. Released TNF-α was measured by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Gene expression was determined by real-time reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR). Signaling molecules were analyzed by western blotting, and activation of NF-κB was measured by ELISA-based DNA binding analysis and luciferase reporter assay. Chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) analysis was performed to examine NF-κB p65 and coactivator p300 enrichments and histone modifications at the endogenous TNF-α promoter. RESULTS: Treatment of LPS-activated microglia with 6-MP significantly attenuated TNF-α production. In 6-MP pretreated microglia, LPS-induced MAPK signaling, IκB-α degradation, NF-κB p65 nuclear translocation, and in vitro p65 DNA binding activity were not impaired. However, 6-MP suppressed transactivation activity of NF-κB and TNF-α promoter by inhibiting phosphorylation and acetylation of p65 on Ser276 and Lys310, respectively. ChIP analyses revealed that 6-MP dampened LPS-induced histone H3 acetylation of chromatin surrounding the TNF-α promoter, ultimately leading to a decrease in p65/coactivator-mediated transcription of TNF-α gene. Furthermore, 6-MP enhanced orphan nuclear receptor Nur77 expression. Using RNA interference approach, we further demonstrated that Nur77 upregulation contribute to 6-MP-mediated inhibitory effect on TNF-α production. Additionally, 6-MP also impeded TNF-α mRNA translation through prevention of LPS-activated PI3K/Akt/mTOR signaling cascades. CONCLUSIONS: These results suggest that 6-MP might have a therapeutic potential in neuroinflammation-related neurodegenerative disorders through downregulation of microglia-mediated inflammatory processes.

Cleavage of Dicer protein by I7 protease during vaccinia virus infection.

Dicer is the key component in the miRNA pathway. Degradation of Dicer protein is facilitated during vaccinia virus (VV) infection. A C-terminal cleaved product of Dicer protein was detected in the presence of MG132 during VV infection. Thus, it is possible that Dicer protein is cleaved by a viral protease followed by proteasome degradation of the cleaved product. There is a potential I7 protease cleavage site in the C-terminus of Dicer protein. Indeed, reduction of Dicer protein was detected when Dicer was co-expressed with I7 protease but not with an I7 protease mutant protein lack of the protease activity. Mutation of the potential I7 cleavage site in the C-terminus of Dicer protein resisted its degradation during VV infection. Furthermore, Dicer protein was reduced dramatically by recombinant VV vI7Li after the induction of I7 protease. If VV could facilitate the degradation of Dicer protein, the process of miRNA should be affected by VV infection. Indeed, accumulation of precursor miR122 was detected after VV infection or I7 protease expression. Reduction of miR122 would result in the suppression of HCV sub-genomic RNA replication, and, in turn, the amount of viral proteins. As expected, significant reduction of HCVNS5A protein was detected after VV infection and I7 protease expression. Therefore, our results suggest that VV could cleave Dicer protein through I7 protease to facilitate Dicer degradation, and in turn, suppress the processing of miRNAs. Effect of Dicer protein on VV replication was also studied. Exogenous expression of Dicer protein suppresses VV replication slightly while knockdown of Dicer protein does not affect VV replication significantly.