title: Glucocorticoids suppress tumor necrosis factor-alpha expression by human monocytic THP-1 cells by suppressing transactivation through adjacent NF-kappa B and c-Jun-activating transcription factor-2 binding sites in the promoter.
abstract: Glucocorticoid drugs suppress tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNF-alpha) synthesis by activated monocyte/macrophages, contributing to an anti-inflammatory action in vivo. In lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-activated human monocytic THP-1 cells, glucocorticoids acted primarily on the TNF-alpha promoter to suppress a burst of transcriptional activity that occurred between 90 min and 3 h after LPS exposure. LPS increased nuclear c-Jun/ATF-2, NF-kappaB(1)/Rel-A, and Rel-A/C-Rel transcription factor complexes, which bound specifically to oligonucleotide sequences from the -106 to -88 base pair (bp) region of the promoter. The glucocorticoid, dexamethasone, suppressed nuclear binding activity of these complexes prior to and during the critical phase of TNF-alpha transcription. Site-directed mutagenesis in TNF-alpha promoter-luciferase reporter constructs showed that the adjacent c-Jun/ATF-2 (-106 to -99 bp) and NF-kappaB (-97 to -88 bp) binding sites each contributed to the LPS-stimulated expression. Mutating both sites largely prevented dexamethasone from suppressing TNF-alpha promoter-luciferase reporters. LPS exposure also increased nuclear Egr-1 and PU.1 abundance. The Egr-1/Sp1 (-172 to -161 bp) binding sites and the PU.1-binding Ets site (-116 to -110 bp) each contributed to the LPS-stimulated expression but not to glucocorticoid response. Dexamethasone suppressed the abundance of the c-Fos/c-Jun complex in THP-1 cell nuclei, but there was no direct evidence for c-Fos/c-Jun transactivation through sites in the -172 to -52 bp region. Small contributions to glucocorticoid response were attributable to promoter sequences outside the -172 to -88 bp region and to sequences in the TNF-alpha 3'-untranslated region. We conclude that glucocorticoids suppress LPS-stimulated secretion of TNF-alpha from human monocytic cells largely through antagonizing transactivation by c-Jun/ATF-2 and NF-kappaB complexes at binding sites in the -106 to -88 bp region of the TNF-alpha promoter.
authors.affiliation: Department of Pharmacology, University of Western Australia, Nedlands, Western Australia, Australia 6907.
authors.forename: J H
authors.initials: JH
authors.lastname: Steer
authors.forename: K M
authors.initials: KM
authors.lastname: Kroeger
authors.forename: L J
authors.initials: LJ
authors.lastname: Abraham
authors.forename: D A
authors.initials: DA
authors.lastname: Joyce
mesh_terms: D051698:Activating Transcription Factor 2; D000818:Animals; D001483:Base Sequence; D001665:Binding Sites; D002460:Cell Line; D017362:Cyclic AMP Response Element-Binding Protein / Q000378:metabolism*; D005938:Glucocorticoids / Q000494:pharmacology*; D006801:Humans; D008070:Lipopolysaccharides / Q000494:pharmacology; D008156:Luciferases / Q000378:metabolism; D051379:Mice; D008969:Molecular Sequence Data; D009000:Monocytes / Q000378:metabolism*; D016328:NF-kappa B / Q000378:metabolism*; D014157:Transcription Factors / Q000378:metabolism*; D015533:Transcriptional Activation / Q000187:drug effects; D014162:Transfection; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha / Q000096:biosynthesis* / Q000235:genetics
chemical_list: D051698:Activating Transcription Factor 2; D017362:Cyclic AMP Response Element-Binding Protein; D005938:Glucocorticoids; D008070:Lipopolysaccharides; D016328:NF-kappa B; D014157:Transcription Factors; D014409:Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha; D008156:Luciferases