Crucial involvement of xanthine oxidase in the intracellular signalling networks associated with human myeloid cell function.

Xanthine oxidase (XOD) is an enzyme which plays a central role in purine catabolism by converting hypoxanthine into xanthine and then further into uric acid. Here we report that XOD is activated in THP-1 human myeloid cells in response to pro-inflammatory and growth factor stimulation. This effect occurred following stimulation of THP-1 cells with ligands of plasma membrane associated TLRs 2 and 4, endosomal TLRs 7 and 8 as well as stem cell growth factor (SCF). Hypoxia-inducible factor 1 (HIF-1) and activator protein 1 (AP-1) transcription complexes were found to be responsible for XOD upregulation. Importantly, the mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR), a major myeloid cell translation regulator, was also found to be essential for XOD activation. Specific inhibition of XOD by allopurinol and sodium tungstate led to an increase in intracellular AMP levels triggering downregulation of mTOR activation by phosphorylation of its T2446 residue. Taken together, our results demonstrate for the first time that XOD is not only activated by pro-inflammatory stimuli or SCF but also plays an important role in maintaining mTOR-dependent translational control during the biological responses of human myeloid cells.

The involvement of sphingosine kinase 1 in LPS-induced Toll-like receptor 4-mediated accumulation of HIF-1α protein, activation of ASK1 and production of the pro-inflammatory cytokine IL-6.

Toll-like receptors (TLRs) lie in the core of resistance to infectious diseases allowing host immune cells to specifically detect pathogens by recognising their specific molecular patterns. Cell membrane-associated TLR4 (recognises lipopolysaccharide (LPS) of Gram-negative bacteria) and endosomal TLR7/8 (recognise viral single-stranded RNA) are known to activate hypoxia inducible factor-1α (HIF-1α) protein (necessary for cellular adaptation to the inflammatory stress) via redox-dependent mechanism. TLR4 triggers the cross talk between HIF-1α and apoptosis signal-regulating kinase 1 (ASK1), whereas TLR7/8 activates HIF-1α in the ASK1-independent manner. Here, we report that in THP-1 and RAW264.7 macrophages, ligand-induced activation of the TLR4 but not TLR7/8 induces activation and transcriptional upregulation of sphingosine kinase 1 (SphK1) in extracellular signal-regulating kinase and phospholipase C-1γ/PI3 kinase-dependent manner. TLR4-mediated SphK1 activation was found to be critical for the redox-dependent activation of HIF-1α and ASK1, as well as for the prevention of LPS-induced activation of caspase 3 and the expression of pro-inflammatory cytokine interleukin-6.

HIF-1alpha protein is an essential factor for protection of myeloid cells against LPS-induced depletion of ATP and apoptosis that supports Toll-like receptor 4-mediated production of IL-6.

Sepsis is the leading cause of death in intensive care units, which reflects detrimental host response to infection where lipopolysaccharide (LPS) shared by Gram-negative bacteria acts as a potent activator of immune cells via Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4). Recently it was found that TLR4 downstream signalling leads to the accumulation of hypoxia-inducible factor 1 alpha (HIF-1alpha), which is important for TLR4-dependent expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines, however, basic biochemical mechanisms of involvement of this protein in TLR4 downstream signalling remains unclear. Here we found that knockdown of the expression of HIF-1alpha protein by siRNA led to the depletion of ATP, which corresponded to the constant increase in the activity of apoptosis signal-regulating kinase 1 (ASK1) and therefore apoptosis as estimated based on the increase in the activity of caspase 3. On the other hand, LPS-dependent production of IL-6 was attenuated. Treatment of HIF-1alpha knockdown cells with extracellular ATP in combination with LPS preserved the IL-6 expression but not the activity of ASK1 on the level observed in LPS-stimulated control cells. We therefore suggested that HIF-1alpha protein supports LPS-dependent expression of IL-6 by preventing depletion of ATP. On the other hand HIF-1alpha protein is selectively required for down-regulation of ASK1 activated during LPS-induced TLR4 downstream signalling.