title: Differential effect of simvastatin on activation of Rac(1) vs. activation of the heat shock protein 27-mediated pathway upon oxidative stress, in human smooth muscle cells.
abstract: In the present study, we have analyzed the response of human smooth muscle cell (SMC)s to oxidative stress, in terms of recruitment of key elements of the stress-activated protein kinase (SAPK) pathway, such as Rac(1), p38, and the small heat shock protein (HSP)27. The level of expression of three small HSPs, alphaB-crystallin, HSP20, HSP27, as well as the phosphorylation levels of HSP27 and p38, were higher in cultured, asynchronously growing SMCs originating from left interior mammary artery (LIMA) than those originating from aorta, saphenous vein, and umbilical vein, validating the choice of SMCs from LIMA as a model system in our study. In synchronized, quiescent SMCs from LIMA, oxidative stress (H(2)O(2) stimulation)-induced membrane translocation of Rac(1), p38 phosphorylation, membrane translocation, and phosphorylation of HSP27. In these cells, simvastatin (S), an HMG-CoA reductase inhibitor, blocked, in a mevalonate-dependent way, oxidative stress-induced membrane translocation of Rac(1). However, S pretreatment prior to oxidative stress increased the levels of p38 phosphorylation, HSP27 membrane translocation/phosphorylation, actin polymerization, and apoptosis in these cells, in a mevalonate-dependent way. These results establish that S pretreatment has a stimulatory effect on the stress-activated p38/HSP27 pathway, despite its blocking effect on Rac(1) activation.
authors.affiliation: TNO Prevention and Health, Gaubius Laboratory, P.O. Box 2215, 2301CE Leiden, The Netherlands.
authors.forename: Pascale
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Nègre-Aminou
authors.forename: Rick E W
authors.initials: RE
authors.lastname: van Leeuwen
authors.forename: G Christa F
authors.initials: GC
authors.lastname: van Thiel
authors.forename: Paul
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: van den IJssel
authors.forename: Wilfried W
authors.initials: WW
authors.lastname: de Jong
authors.forename: Roy A
authors.initials: RA
authors.lastname: Quinlan
authors.forename: Louis H
authors.initials: LH
authors.lastname: Cohen
mesh_terms: D008841:Actin Cytoskeleton / Q000378:metabolism; D000924:Anticholesteremic Agents / Q000494:pharmacology; D017209:Apoptosis; D002478:Cells, Cultured; D055551:HSP27 Heat-Shock Proteins; D006360:Heat-Shock Proteins; D006801:Humans; D008323:Mammary Arteries / Q000166:cytology; D020928:Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinases / Q000378:metabolism; D018832:Molecular Chaperones; D009130:Muscle, Smooth / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000378:metabolism; D009363:Neoplasm Proteins / Q000378:metabolism*; D018384:Oxidative Stress / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000502:physiology; D019821:Simvastatin / Q000494:pharmacology*; D048051:p38 Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinases; D020830:rac1 GTP-Binding Protein / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D000924:Anticholesteremic Agents; D055551:HSP27 Heat-Shock Proteins; C057725:HSPB1 protein, human; D006360:Heat-Shock Proteins; D018832:Molecular Chaperones; D009363:Neoplasm Proteins; D019821:Simvastatin; D020928:Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinases; D048051:p38 Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinases; D020830:rac1 GTP-Binding Protein