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Glucocorticoid receptor down‐Regulates c‐jun amino terminal kinases induced by tumor necrosis factor α in fetal rat hepatocyte primary cultures
Author(s) -
Ventura JuanJosé,
Roncero César,
Fabregat Isabel,
Benito Manuel
Publication year - 1999
Publication title -
hepatology
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 5.488
H-Index - 361
eISSN - 1527-3350
pISSN - 0270-9139
DOI - 10.1002/hep.510290339
Subject(s) - phosphorylation , glucocorticoid receptor , kinase , endocrinology , tumor necrosis factor alpha , medicine , glucocorticoid , tyrosine phosphorylation , okadaic acid , epidermal growth factor , biology , phosphatase , tyrosine kinase , signal transduction , chemistry , microbiology and biotechnology , receptor
The effect of dexamethasone on Jun N‐terminal kinase (JNK) activity was assayed by using fetal hepatocytes in primary culture. The addition of tumor necrosis factor α (TNF‐α) caused an increase in JNK in a dose‐ and time‐dependent manner. We show that activation of JNK by this extracellular signal is inhibited by dexamethasone in a dose‐dependent fashion. This inhibitory effect was observed in cells treated for 10 minutes with dexamethasone in the presence of protein phosphatase inhibitors such as orthovanadate or okadaic acid, or in cells previously treated with actinomycin D. Glucocorticoid receptor (GR) can be precipitated with the fusion protein, GST–c‐Jun (1‐79), bound to agarose beads. However, the inhibitory effect of glucocorticoids on JNK activity was also observed using ATF‐2 as substrate. In addition, dexamethasone inhibits JNK phosphorylation induced by TNF‐α. Finally, we show that GR can also be phosphorylated in tyrosine residues in response to TNF‐α and epidermal growth factor (EGF) upon ligand‐binding. Our results suggest that the anti‐inflammatory effect of glucocorticoids on the inflammatory pathways induced by TNF‐α can be explained, at least in part, by modulating JNK activity through a direct protein‐protein interaction; the JNK phosphorylation and tyrosine‐phosphorylation state of GR may be regulatory steps also involved in that effect.