title: Oxidized low-density lipoprotein-induced apoptosis is attenuated by insulin-activated phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase/Akt through p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase.
abstract: 1. The aim of the present study was to investigate whether p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (p38 MAPK) is involved in oxidized low-density lipoprotein (oxLDL)-induced apoptosis of human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs). We also sought to determine whether this apoptosis is regulated by the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase (PI3K)/Akt pathway. 2. Low-density lipoprotein was oxidized with CuSO4 and used as oxLDL. Using HUVEC, we determined whether LDL/oxLDL induces apoptosis by DNA fragmentation and the cell cycle distribution (SubG1 method). The mechanism and activation of p38 MAPK and Akt were determined by western blot analysis. 3. The results showed that oxLDL induced DNA fragmentation, whereas cell cycle distribution showed that it also significantly increased the rate of cell death compared with the LDL group. SB203580 significantly inhibited cell death induced by oxLDL, as did the administration of insulin. Western blot analysis showed the activation of p38 MAPK by oxLDL, but not with LDL. It was found that Akt was activated in the presence of insulin. In the presence of either SB203580 or insulin, activation of p38 MAPK was significantly inhibited compared with stimulation by oxLDL alone. However, application of both insulin and wortmannin resulted in no significant difference compared with HUVEC stimulated by oxLDL only. 4. The results showed that apoptosis in HUVEC can be induced by oxLDL and involves p38 MAPK. It was also demonstrated that insulin inhibited oxLDL-induced apoptosis and may inhibit the activation of p38 MAPK through the PI3K/Akt pathway.
authors.affiliation: Second Department of Internal Medicine, School of Medicine, University of Occupational and Environmental Health, Kitakyushu, Japan.
authors.forename: Shun-ichi
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Nihei
authors.forename: Kazuhito
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Yamashita
authors.forename: Hiromi
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Tasaki
authors.forename: Kiyoshi
authors.initials: K
authors.lastname: Ozumi
authors.forename: Yasuhide
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Nakashima
mesh_terms: D017209:Apoptosis; D002460:Cell Line; D053938:DNA Fragmentation; D004730:Endothelium, Vascular / Q000166:cytology; D004789:Enzyme Activation; D006801:Humans; D007328:Insulin / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000502:physiology*; D008077:Lipoproteins, LDL / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000502:physiology*; D010084:Oxidation-Reduction; D019869:Phosphatidylinositol 3-Kinases / Q000502:physiology*; D010766:Phosphorylation; D017346:Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases / Q000502:physiology*; D011518:Proto-Oncogene Proteins / Q000502:physiology*; D051057:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-akt; D014471:Umbilical Veins / Q000166:cytology; D048051:p38 Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinases / Q000502:physiology*
chemical_list: D007328:Insulin; D008077:Lipoproteins, LDL; D019869:Phosphatidylinositol 3-Kinases; D017346:Protein Serine-Threonine Kinases; D011518:Proto-Oncogene Proteins; D051057:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-akt; D048051:p38 Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinases; C099252:oxidized low density lipoprotein; C494918:AKT1 protein, human