Troglitazone up-regulates vascular endothelial argininosuccinate synthase

Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications 370 (2008) 254–258 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications journal homepage: www.elsevier.com/locate/ybbrc Troglitazone up-regulates vascular endothelial argininosuccinate synthase Bonnie L. Goodwin a,b, Karen D. Corbin a, Laura C. Pendleton a, Monique M. Levy a,b, Larry P. Solomonson a, Duane C. Eichler a,* a b Department of Molecular Medicine, College of Medicine, University of South Florida, 12901 Bruce B. Downs Boulevard, MDC Box 7, Tampa, FL 33612-4799, USA Johnnie B. Byrd, Sr. Alzheimer’s Center and Research Institute, University of South Florida, Tampa, FL 33612, USA a r t i c l e i n f o Article history: Received 11 March 2008 Available online 28 March 2008 Keywords: Vascular endothelial cells Nitric oxide Argininosuccinate synthase Troglitazone Citrulline–nitric oxide cycle a b s t r a c t Vascular endothelial nitric oxide (NO) production via the citrulline–NO cycle not only involves the regulation of endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS), but also regulation of caveolar-localized endothelial argininosuccinate synthase (AS), which catalyzes the rate-limiting step of the cycle. In the present study, we demonstrated that exposure of endothelial cells to troglitazone coordinately induced AS expression and NO production. Western blot analysis demonstrated an increase in AS protein expression. This increased expression was due to transcriptional upregulation of AS mRNA, as determined by quantitative real time RT-PCR and inhibition by 1-D-ribofuranosylbenzimidazole (DRB), a transcriptional inhibitor. Reporter gene assays and EMSA analyses identified a distal PPARc response element (PPRE) ( 2471 to 2458) that mediated the troglitazone increase in AS expression. Overall, this study defines a novel molecular mechanism through which a thiazolidinedione (TZD) like troglitazone supports endothelial function via the transcriptional up-regulation of AS expression. Ó 2008 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. Almost all normal functions of vascular endothelial cells are dependent on or affected by the bioactivity of nitric oxide (NO). Thus, impairment of endothelial NO production is often a common pathogenic mechanism by which cardiovascular risk factors such as hypercholesterolemia, hypertension, smoking, homocystinemia, vascular inflammation, and diabetes mellitus promote their deleterious effects on the vascular wall [1]. Endothelial NO production is supported by reactions catalyzed by endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS), argininosuccinate synthase (AS), and argininosuccinate lyase (AL) which are core components of the citrulline–NO cycle [2–4]. The principal role of AS and AL catalysis is in the conversion of citrulline to arginine, the substrate utilized by eNOS to produce NO and citrulline. AS is rate-limiting to the citrulline– NO cycle [3,4], and as such is required to sustain endothelial function and viability [5]. Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma (PPARc) is a member of the nuclear receptor superfamily of ligand-activated transcription factors that has been shown to regulate the transcription of genes involved in lipid metabolism, differentiation and cell growth [6]. Both naturally derived PPARc ligands, including a number of fatty acid metabolites such as eicosanoid derivatives [7] and 15-deoxy-D12,14-prostaglandin J2 (15d-PGJ2) [8,9], as well as synthetic ligands such as the thiazolidinediones (TZDs) have been described. The TZDs have insulin-sensitizing properties [10–12] which provide cardiovascular benefits [13–17] and promote * Corresponding author. Fax: +1 813 974 7357. E-mail address: deichler@health.usf.edu (D.C. Eichler). 0006-291X/$ - see front matter Ó 2008 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.bbrc.2008.03.089 flow-mediated vasodilatation, in part, by stimulating endothelial NO production via the activation of eNOS [17,18]. Because of these findings, we examined whether the TZD, troglitazone, known to promote NO production [19] and vasodilatation in diabetic patients [20], may affect the efficiency of the citrulline–NO cycle via AS expression in vascular endothelial cells. Materials and methods Cell culture. Bovine aortic endothelial cells (BAEC) were cultured in complete Dulbecco’s modified Eagle’s medium (1 g/L glucose, Mediatech) containing 10% fetal bovine serum (Hyclone Laboratories), 100 U/ml penicillin and 100 lg/ml streptomycin (Mediatech) at 37 °C in an atmosphere of 5% CO2. Nitric oxide assay. BAEC were treated with troglitazone as indicated in DMEM (minus phenol red) plus 5% fetal bovine serum. Aliquots (100 ll) of media were removed at the indicated times and nitrite was measured as an indicator of cellular NO produced using a fluorometric method [21]. Samples were read on a BMG Fluostar Galaxy spectrofluorometer in a 96-well plate. Data is presented as quantity of nitrite produced in pmols per mg protein. Western blot analysis. Following treatment with troglitazone, BAEC were harvested in 500 ll PBS, centrifuged briefly and lysed in RIPA buffer. The lysate was incubated on ice for 30 min and protein concentration determined by BCA reagent (Pierce). Ten micrograms of protein was electrophoresed on 4–15% polyacrylamide gels (Bio-Rad) and transferred onto membrane (Immobilon-P). Membranes were incubated with antibody 1:2500 anti-AS and 1:1000 anti-GAPDH (BD Transduction Labs) in 5% blocking solution in TBS-T (20 mM Tris–HCl, 137 mM NaCl, 0.1% Tween 20) and then washed in TBS-T. Membranes were subsequently incubated with horseradish peroxidase-conjugated anti-mouse antibody for 1 h, immersed in ECL reagent (GE Healthcare) for 1 min and then exposed to film. Band intensities were quantitated using ImageQuant software (Molecular Dynamics). RNA isolation and quantitative RT-PCR. Total RNA was isolated using Tri Reagent following the manufacturer’s instructions (Sigma). RNA was treated with DNase (Ambion DNA-free). Five hundred nanograms of RNA was reverse transcribed using 255 B.L. Goodwin et al. / Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications 370 (2008) 254–258 Results The PPARc ligand, troglitazone, increases endothelial NO production To confirm that troglitazone stimulates NO production in cultured endothelial cells, confluent bovine aortic endothelial cells (BAECs) were incubated for 24 h with increasing concentrations of this synthetic PPARc agonist. As shown in Fig. 1A, a dose-dependent increase in NO production following treatment was observed up to 20 lM troglitazone. The dose-dependent effect was consistent with previous findings relative to the extent of NO produced [18]. Troglitazone treatment increases AS expression Since the expression of AS is necessary to support endothelial NO production [3–5,25], we investigated whether troglitazone affected the increase in vascular endothelial NO production, at least in part, through the up-regulation of AS expression, or whether the increase in NO production was simply due to established effects on eNOS activation [17–19]. Confluent BAECs were treated with increasing concentrations of troglitazone for 24 h and AS protein levels were determined by Western blotting. As shown in Fig. 1B and C, treatment with troglitazone resulted in an increase in AS protein that closely correlated with the troglitazone dependent in- 3.0 Fold NO Produced A 2.5 2.0 1.5 1.0 0.5 0.0 0 5 10 20 50 100 Troglitazone (µM) B 3.0 Relative Spot Density C AS 2.5 2.0 1.5 1.0 0.5 0.0 0 10 20 50 100 Troglitazone (µM) Fig. 1. The PPAR-c agonist, troglitazone, stimulates endothelial NO production and AS protein expression. BAEC were treated with increasing concentrations of troglitazone as indicated for 24 h. (A) NO was measured as nitrite produced/mg protein. (Nitrite is a stable reaction product of NO and molecular oxygen.) Results are expressed as relative levels of NO produced in control (no treatment) versus treated cells, and error bars represent the standard error of the mean. (B–C) Ten micrograms of whole cell lysate was loaded onto an SDS–polyacrylamide gel and standard Western blotting performed. Anti-AS (1:2500) was used to detect the amount of AS protein present. A representative Western blot is shown in B, and relative spot density for AS protein, normalized against GAPDH and quantitated, is represented in C. These results are representative of three independent experiments and error bars represent the standard error of the mean. crease in NO production, demonstrating that this PPARc agonist does indeed support an increase in NO production through up-regulation of AS expression. To determine whether the increase in AS expression resulted from transcriptional upregulation, BAECs were grown to confluence and stimulated with troglitazone for 24 h. RNA was prepared and quantitative real time RT-PCR showed that treated endothelial cells had a 3.5-fold increase with 20 lM troglitazone (Fig. 2). This increase in AS mRNA could be inhibited by treatment with the transcriptional inhibitor 1-D-ribofuranosyl-benzimidazole (DRB) suggesting that the increase in steady-state AS mRNA levels was Relative mRNA Expression Superscript II (Invitrogen) as described previously [22]. Real time quantitative PCR was performed using AS specific primers ASL228 and ASR278 [22]. Results were normalized to 18S rRNA. Vector construction. Luciferase reporter constructs were designed to include the AS promoter and 50 -UTR up to the AUG start codon cloned upstream of the luciferase gene. Luciferase reporter construct p3ASP189 was described previously [23]. Left primers ASL-3075 (50 -GTACCTCCACTGAAATTGAA) and ASL-2616 (50 -GCACTCG AGGAAAGTCAAAGGCCATGGTG) were combined with ASRluc, (50 -ATAGAATGGCGCC GGGCGTTTCTTTATGTTTTTGGCGTCTTCCATCGTGACGGGTGACCAGCGGC) to amplify a deletion series of the AS promoter with an XhoI site on the 50 end and an NcoI site on the 30 end which were used to clone into the vector pGL3Basic (Promega) and create the vectors p3ASP3075 and p3ASP2616, respectively. Mutations were made in the PPRE sites in p3ASP2616 using a three-way PCR method [23]. Primer PPREmut (50 -GCTGGTCTTGATCTCCTGATCTCAGGTGA) was combined with primer ASRluc to amplify a fragment that contained the mutations. This PCR product was then used as a right primer and paired with ASL-2616 to produce a second product. A third round of PCR was used with the second product as a template with primers ASL-2616 and ASRluc to enrich for the target. Amplified products were purified and ligated into pGL3Basic to create p3ASP2616PPREmut. All constructs were verified by sequencing. Luciferase assay analysis. BAEC were cultured as described above and plated in a 24-well plate prior to transfection. Experimental plasmids (200 ng each) and Renilla control plasmid pRL-TK (50 ng) were transiently transfected into BAEC using Transit-LT1 (Mirus) in serum free media. Transfected cells were cultured for 24 h in media containing troglitazone and lysed in passive lysis buffer (Promega). Ten microliters lysate was assayed for luciferase and Renilla activity using a Dual-Luciferase Reporter Assay System (Promega) according to the manufacturer’s instructions. Electrophoretic mobility shift assay. Nuclear extracts, prepared from BAEC as described previously [23,24], were combined with or without cold oligonucleotide competitors and incubated for 20 min at room temperature. Probes were labeled by combining equimolar amounts of complementary oligonucleotides (2  10 10 mol), which were heated to 70 °C, and allowed to cool to room temperature slowly. The oligos were labeled using 10 ll [a-32P]dCTP (3000 Ci/mmol) and Klenow enzyme. Unincorporated label was removed using Nuc Away spin columns (Ambion). The reaction mixture contained binding buffer (10 mM Hepes, pH 7.9, 10% glycerol, 1 mM DTT, 0.1 lg/ll poly(dI:dC), 0.5 lg/ll BSA, and 4000 dpm/ll radiolabeled probe) and nuclear extract (5 lg) in a total volume of 10 ll which was incubated at 30 °C for 30 min. Samples were loaded onto a 5% non-denaturing polyacrylamide gel and run at 180 V. Gels were dried under vacuum and exposed to film. Double-stranded oligonucleotides composed of the following sequences were used for EMSA analysis: PPRE (50 -ACCTGAGGTCAGGAGTTCAAGACC-30 ), PPREmut (50 -ACCTGAGAACAGGAG AACAAGACC-30 ), Sp1 site 1 (50 -GCTCCAGGCGGGGGCCGGG CCCGGGGGCG-30 ), Sp1 site 2 (50 -GGCCGGGCCCGGGGGCGGGGTCTGTGGCGC-30 ) and Sp1 site 3 (50 CCGGTCACCGGCCCTGCCCCCGGGCCCTG-30 ). Statistical analyses. Experimental data is expressed as the mean of experiments plus or minus the standard error of the mean. Each experiment was performed independently at least three times. 5.0 4.0 3.0 2.0 1.0 0.0 U T T+D Fig. 2. Troglitazone induces transcription of AS mRNA. BAEC were untreated (U) or treated with 20 lM troglitazone plus or minus the transcriptional inhibitor DRB (50 lM) (T and T + D, respectively) for 24 h. Total RNA was isolated, and AS mRNA was detected using real time quantitative RT-PCR. Results were normalized to 18S rRNA and represent averages ± standard error of the mean. 256 B.L. Goodwin et al. / Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications 370 (2008) 254–258 due to an increase in transcription rather than decreased AS mRNA turnover. These results also suggested that the increase in AS protein could be accounted for at the level of transcriptional regulation. Identification of a putative PPRE in the promoter of the AS gene In order to account for the transcriptional regulation of AS expression by troglitazone, the AS promoter was examined using luciferase reporter gene constructs to identify regions regulated by this PPARc agonist. Previous work by others [26] and by us [27] has shown that three Sp1/3 elements in the proximal AS promoter are required for AS expression. Since PPARc agonists are known to mediate transcriptional effects through Sp1 elements [28,29], we initially examined the involvement of the proximal promoter using a construct, p3ASP189, containing these three Sp1/3 elements in the first 189 bp of the AS promoter. However, transfection of the p3ASP189 construct into BAEC followed by treatment with troglitazone did not result in an increase in promoter activity (Fig. 3A). Thus, the up-regulation of AS expression by troglitazone was not mediated by these Sp1 elements or other sequence elements located in the proximal promoter. Based on these findings, the search to identify the element(s) involved in PPARc regulation was extended using a series of constructs containing increasing lengths of the AS promoter. Cells transfected with AS promoter constructs containing up to 2088 bp again showed no change in reporter gene activity in response to troglitazone treatment (data not shown). However, when a construct containing 2616 bp of the AS promoter was transfected into BAEC, a significant increase in reporter gene expression was observed in response to treatment with troglitazone. The construct containing 2616 bp of the promoter was activated 2.7-fold by 20 lM troglitazone (Fig. 3A). This comparative analysis of luciferase activity between treated and untreated transfections of the construct p3ASP2616 mapped the PPARc responsive region from 2616 to 2088 bp upstream of the transcriptional start. PPARc binds to the AS PPRE To further confirm the involvement of the PPRE in AS promoter function, we investigated whether PPARc binds to the putative AS PPRE. Electrophoretic mobility shift assays (EMSAs) were performed with oligonucleotides containing the putative sequence. Nuclear extracts from troglitazone and untreated BAEC were mixed with [32P]-labeled AS PPRE oligonucleotides. As shown in Fig. 4, troglitazone enhanced binding to the PPRE. To demonstrate specificity, excess unlabeled PPREwt oligonucleotides were shown to compete, diminishing the signal of the shifted band. In contrast, addition of excess, unlabeled PPREmut oligonucleotide, with a mutation that should not allow binding and therefore should not compete with [32P]-labeled AS PPRE oligonucleotides, did not diminish the specific signal. These results were taken to further support the involvement of this distal PPRE in the AS promoter as the element that mediates the transcriptional upregulation by troglitazone. Discussion One mechanism by which PPARc agonists provide cardiovascular benefits is by enhancing endothelial NO production [17]. Endothelium-derived NO is a potent chemical mediator with antiatherogenic properties, such as stimulation of vasorelaxation A 189 None - Untreated Trog - Troglitazone None DNA sequence analysis identified a near consensus PPARc response element (PPRE) from 2471 to 2458 bp (AGGTCAG GAGTTCA) in the p3ASP2616 construct. To verify the involvement of this element, comparative transient transfection assays were performed using a construct mutated (non-functional) in the putative PPRE and the wild-type construct. As shown in Fig. 3B, mutation of the putative PPRE site in p3ASP2616 completely abolished the activating effects of troglitazone supporting the involvement of this PPRE ( 2471 to 2458 bp) in the distal region of the AS promoter. µM) Troglitazone (µ 0 10 20 100X PPRE Trog 20 100X PPREmut 2616 None 20 X } Competitor X Trog PPARγ 0 Trog W 2 Fold RLU 3 4 M M 0.0 0.5 1.0 1.5 2.0 Fold RLU 2.5 7.0 B W - Wild Type Construct M - Mutant Construct Relative Spot Density None W 1 3.0 6.0 5.0 4.0 3.0 2.0 1.0 0.0 1 Fig. 3. Troglitazone induces a distal element in the AS promoter. (A) BAEC were transiently transfected with the proximal AS promoter construct, p3ASP189, or an extended AS promoter construct, p3ASP2616, and treated with 20 lM troglitazone (Trog) for 24 h. (B) BAEC were transiently transfected with the AS promoter constructs with wild-type p3ASP2616 (W) or p3ASP2616PPREmut (M, represents mutated PPRE) and treated with 20 lM troglitazone (Trog) for 24 h. All results are presented as relative luciferase activity units and represent averages ± standard error of the mean of at least four experiments conducted in triplicate. 2 3 4 5 Fig. 4. Troglitazone increases binding to the AS PPRE. (A) Electrophoretic mobility shift assays were performed using BAEC nuclear extracts prepared from untreated and troglitazone treated cells for 6 h. Extracts were combined with an oligonucleotide probe containing the putative PPRE sequence of the AS promoter, and competed with either a 100-fold excess of cold wild-type or mutated oligonucleotide probe where indicated. Labeled arrow indicates position of PPARc-specific bands. (B) Relative density of PPARc-specific bands. B.L. Goodwin et al. / Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications 370 (2008) 254–258 and repression of endothelial leukocyte adhesion molecules, platelet aggregation and smooth muscle cell proliferation [30–32]. Although troglitazone demonstrates vasodilator activities to lower blood pressure in diabetic patients, its precise mechanism is not well defined [20,33,34]. However, these studies suggest that troglitazone mediated direct effects on the vascular wall. Until now, troglitazone was thought to promote endothelial NO production through up-regulation of eNOS protein expression [19] or activity [18], although the mechanism was not established. This report is the first demonstration that the PPARc agonist, troglitazone, facilitates the production of vascular endothelial NO through the up-regulation of AS expression, the rate-limiting enzyme of the citrulline–NO cycle. The increase in AS protein levels paralleled AS mRNA levels and the increased NO production. Since DRB, a transcriptional inhibitor, blocked the induction of AS expression by troglitazone, our results indicated that the increase in AS expression resulted from transcriptional regulation by this PPARc agonist. Therefore, we identified a distal PPRE in the AS promoter that mediated the transcriptional effects of troglitazone on AS expression. To our knowledge, this is the first identification of a functional PPRE in the AS promoter. These results further support our view that the coordinate regulation of endothelial AS expression and NO production is essential [5], and physiologic or pharmacologic stimuli that promote or diminish endothelial function do so not only by affecting eNOS activity or expression, but also by affecting AS expression [5]. Moreover, the results in this report contribute new and additional insight as to how PPARc agonists promote endothelial NO production through diverse mechanisms [18,19,35]. For example, 15dPGJ2, a naturally occurring PPARc ligand, increases Hsp90 expression which promotes eNOS activation, while ciglitazone and rosiglitazone do not, yet still increase NO production [35]. In addition, 15d-PGJ2 and rosiglitazone increase binding of Hsp90 to eNOS to promote NO production, while ciglitazone does not. Finally, both 15d-PGJ2 and rosiglitazone, but not ciglitazone, increase phosphorylation of eNOS at ser1177, which is linked to enhanced enzyme activity [35] and increased NO production. In this report, troglitazone was found to promote NO production through the up-regulation of AS expression. This would be in addition to its reported effect on eNOS where troglitazone was shown to up-regulate eNOS expression through a mechanism independent of PPARc activation [19], or where changes in eNOS phosphorylation correlated with an increase in eNOS activity rather than expression [18]. Overall, the findings of this report demonstrate that argininosuccinate synthase represents an additional and physiologically important step in the citrulline–NO cycle by which the TZD, troglitazone, promotes vascular endothelial function. Although troglitazone was withdrawn from the market because of its hepatic toxicity, the multiple mechanisms through which TZDs can improve insulin-sensitivity, as well as NO-dependent vasodilatation, suggests that further studies with new TZD drugs may be warranted. Acknowledgments This work was supported by American Heart Association, Florida Affiliate Grant 0455228B, American Heart Association Predoctoral Fellowship Grant 0515122B, and the University of South Florida Foundation—Mary and Walter Traskiewicz Memorial Fund. References [1] P. Vallance, N. Chan, Endothelial function and nitric oxide: clinical relevance, Heart 85 (2001) 342–350. [2] A. Husson, C. Brasse-Lagnel, A. Fairand, S. Renouf, A. 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