title: Thymus-expressed chemokine promotes survival of PC12 cells via PI3K pathway.
abstract: We reported previously that CCR9 was neuroprotective in the mouse hippocampal neurons. This study was aimed to investigate if thymus-expressed chemokine (TECK)/CCL25 could promote survival of PC12 cells though its receptor CCR9. pEGFP-N1/CCR9 recombinant was constructed and transfected into PC12 cells. Along with this, 50 nM NGF was used to induce PC12 cells to differentiate into sympathetic-like neurons. We show here that under serum-free conditions and within a concentration range (50-200 nM), TECK rescued pEGFP-N1/CCR9 transfected PC12 cells from undergoing apoptosis in serum-free medium; however, it did not exert a similar effect on the cells in the control. On the other hand, the PC12 cells succumbed to a higher concentration of TECK (≥ 300 nM). Bim expression was up-regulated in PC12 cells cultured in serum-free medium in the absence of factors or with anti-TECK+TECK; however, it was not up-regulated in TECK-treated PC12 cells. p-Akt was detected at 15 min which lasted for at least 60 min when PC12 cells were cultured in serum-free medium with TECK. Additionally, it was shown that such an effect was effectively blocked by PI3K inhibitor, Wortmannin. These data suggest that TECK promotes survival of serum-deprived PC12 cells through its receptor, CCR9, most likely via the PI3K/Akt signaling pathway.
authors.affiliation: Department of Immunology and Microbiology, Faculty of Basic Medical Sciences, Kunming Medical College, Kunming, Yunnan, PR China.
authors.forename: Xia
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Cao
authors.forename: Jun
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Ma
authors.forename: Guodong
authors.initials: G
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Caijun
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Ling
authors.initials: L
authors.lastname: Wang
authors.forename: Shuying
authors.initials: S
authors.lastname: Dai
authors.forename: Wei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Xu
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D002454:Cell Differentiation / Q000502:physiology; D002470:Cell Survival / Q000502:physiology; D019742:Chemokines, CC / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000502:physiology*; D016895:Culture Media, Serum-Free; D009434:Neural Pathways / Q000502:physiology; D016716:PC12 Cells; D019869:Phosphatidylinositol 3-Kinases / Q000502:physiology*; D000081082:Phosphoinositide-3 Kinase Inhibitors; D051057:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-akt / Q000502:physiology; D051381:Rats; D054388:Receptors, CCR / Q000096:biosynthesis / Q000235:genetics / Q000502:physiology*; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000502:physiology; D013950:Thymus Gland / Q000737:chemistry / Q000166:cytology* / Q000378:metabolism*
chemical_list: D019742:Chemokines, CC; D016895:Culture Media, Serum-Free; D019869:Phosphatidylinositol 3-Kinases; D000081082:Phosphoinositide-3 Kinase Inhibitors; D051057:Proto-Oncogene Proteins c-akt; D054388:Receptors, CCR; C119309:CC chemokine receptor 9; C575676:Ccl25 protein, rat