Increased endoplasmic reticulum stress response is involved in clopidogrel-induced apoptosis of gastric epithelial cells.
BACKGROUND
The widespread use of clopidogrel alone or in combination with aspirin may result in gastrointestinal mucosal injury, clinically represented as recurrent ulceration and bleeding complications. Our recent work suggested that clopidogrel significantly induced human gastric epithelial cell (GES-1) apoptosis and disrupted gastric mucosal barrier, and that a p38 MAPK inhibitor could attenuate such injury. However, their exact mechanisms are largely unknown.


METHODS
The GES-1 cells were used as a model system, the effects of clopidogrel on the whole gene expression profile were evaluated by human gene expression microarray and gene ontology analysis, changes of the mRNA and protein expression were determined by real-time PCR and Western blot analysis, and cell viability and apoptosis were measured by MTT assay and flow cytometry analysis, respectively.


RESULTS
Gene microarray analysis identified 79 genes that were differentially expressed (P<0.05 and fold-change >3) when cells were treated with or without clopidogrel. Gene ontology analysis revealed that response to stress and cell apoptosis dysfunction were ranked in the top 10 cellular events being affected, and that the major components of endoplasmic reticulum stress-mediated apoptosis pathway - CHOP and TRIB3- were up-regulated in a concentration- and time-dependent manner when cells were treated with clopidogrel. Pathway analysis demonstrated that multiple MAPK kinases were phosphorylated in clopidogrel-treated GES-1 cells, but that only SB-203580 (a p38-specific MAPK inhibitor) attenuated cell apoptosis and CHOP over-expression, both of which were induced by clopidogrel.


CONCLUSIONS
Increased endoplasmic reticulum stress response is involved in clopidogrel-induced gastric mucosal injury, acting through p38 MAPK activation.
Division of Gastroenterology, Department of Medicine, Nanjing First Hospital, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, China.
Hai-Lu
HL
Wu
Zhao-Tao
ZT
Duan
Zong-Dan
ZD
Jiang
Wei-Jun
WJ
Cao
Zhi-Bing
ZB
Wang
Ke-Wei
KW
Hu
Xin
X
Gao
Shu-Kui
SK
Wang
Bang-Shun
BS
He
Zhen-Yu
ZY
Zhang
Hong-Guang
HG
Xie
D017209:Apoptosis / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000235:genetics; D002460:Cell Line; D049109:Cell Proliferation / Q000187:drug effects; D000077144:Clopidogrel; D016000:Cluster Analysis; D015536:Down-Regulation / Q000187:drug effects / Q000235:genetics; D059865:Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000235:genetics; D004847:Epithelial Cells / Q000187:drug effects / Q000201:enzymology / Q000378:metabolism* / Q000473:pathology*; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling; D006801:Humans; D007093:Imidazoles / Q000494:pharmacology; D058977:Molecular Sequence Annotation; D020411:Oligonucleotide Array Sequence Analysis; D011725:Pyridines / Q000494:pharmacology; D012333:RNA, Messenger / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D060888:Real-Time Polymerase Chain Reaction; D013270:Stomach / Q000473:pathology*; D013988:Ticlopidine / Q000031:analogs & derivatives* / Q000494:pharmacology; D015854:Up-Regulation / Q000187:drug effects / Q000235:genetics; D048051:p38 Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinases / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors / Q000378:metabolism
D007093:Imidazoles; D011725:Pyridines; D012333:RNA, Messenger; D000077144:Clopidogrel; D048051:p38 Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinases; D013988:Ticlopidine; C093642:SB 203580