Downregulation of muscle protein degradation in sepsis by eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA).

Eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) has been shown to attenuate muscle atrophy in cancer, starvation and hyperthermia by downregulating the increased expression of the ubiquitin-proteasome proteolytic pathway leading to a reduction in protein degradation. In the current study EPA (0.5 g/kg) administered to septic mice completely attenuated the increased protein degradation in skeletal muscle by preventing the increase in both gene expression and protein concentration of the alpha- and beta-subunits of the 20S proteasome, as well as functional activity of the proteasome, as measured by the 'chymotrypsin-like' enzyme activity. These results suggest that muscle protein catabolism in sepsis is mediated by the same intracellular signalling pathways as found in other catabolic conditions.

Downregulation of ubiquitin-dependent protein degradation in murine myotubes during hyperthermia by eicosapentaenoic acid.

Muscle atrophy in a number of acute wasting conditions is associated with an increased activity and expression of the ubiquitin-proteasome proteolytic pathway. Although different initiators are involved, it is possible that the intracellular signalling events leading to upregulation of this pathway are the same in all catabolic conditions. This study investigates hyperthermia in murine myotubes as a model for increased protein degradation through the ubiquitin-proteasome pathway. The effect of eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) on this process should identify common elements, since EPA has been shown to attenuate induction of the ubiquitin-proteasome pathway in cancer cachexia. Increasing the temperature of myotubes caused a progressive increase in protein degradation. This was associated with an increased proteasome 'chymotrypsin-like' enzyme activity, as well as increased expression of both mRNA and protein for 20S proteasome subunits and the ubiquitin-conjugating enzyme (E2(14k)). This upregulation was not seen in cultures treated with EPA (50 microM), suggesting that it acts to prevent transcriptional activation of the ubiquitin-proteasome pathway in hyperthermia. These results suggest that protein catabolism in hyperthermia and cancer cachexia is mediated through a common pathway.

Signalling pathways in the induction of proteasome expression by proteolysis-inducing factor in murine myotubes.

The mechanism by which the tumour product proteolysis-inducing factor (PIF) induced increased expression of the ubiquitin-proteasome proteolytic pathway was studied in C2C12 murine myotubes. PIF directly increased total protein breakdown at concentrations between 4 and 16 nM, and the effect was attenuated by eicosapentaenoic acid (EPA) and the 12/15-lipoxygenase inhibitor 2,3,5-trimethyl-6-(3-pyridylmethyl)1,4-benzoquinone (CV-6504). PIF induced an increased expression of mRNA for proteasome alpha (C2) and beta (C5) subunits over the same concentration range as that inducing protein degradation and with a maximal effect 4 h after PIF addition. The effect was attenuated by both EPA and CV-6504, suggesting the role of a lipoxygenase metabolite in the increased gene transcription. 15(S)-Hydroxyeicosatetraenoic acid [15(S)-HETE], an intermediate in intracellular signalling by PIF was shown to activate protein kinase Calpha(PKC) over the same concentration range as that inducing proteasome expression and both effects were attenuated by calphostin C, a highly specific inhibitor of PKC. 15(S)-HETE induced phosphorylation and degradation of IkappaBalpha at the same concentrations as those inducing 20S proteasome expression, and this effect was attenuated by calphostin C, suggesting the mediation of PKC. These results suggest potential control points in proteasome activation that could be useful for therapeutic intervention.