The c-fos protein belongs to a family of transcriptional cofactors that can complex with proteins of the Jun family and activate mRNA transcription from gene promoters containing an activator protein 1 (AP-1) binding element. The shear stress inducibility of the c-fos protein was studied in human and animal cell lines of vastly different origins. Primary human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVEC), bovine aortic endothelial cells (BAEC, passage 2-14), HeLa cells, and Chinese hamster ovary (CHO) cells were subjected to steady laminar shear stress using a parallel plate flow apparatus. After 1 h of flow exposure at 25 dyn/cm2, the c-fos levels in nuclei of shear stress HUVEC, BAEC, HeLa, and CHO were 5.4 2 2.0 ( n = 3). 2.25 2 1.38 ( n = 61, 2.14 2 0.07 ( n = 81, 1.92 ? 0.58 ( n = 2) times higher, respectively, than in matched stationary controls. Flow exposure at 4 dyn/cm2 caused no enhancement of c-fos levels in any of the cell lines tested, but caused significant reduction in c-fos expression in the HeLa cells. The c-fos induction by shear stress could be blocked by pharmacological agents. For example, the flow induction of the c-fos protein levels was blocked by 50% with the preincubation of HUVEC with a protein kinase C inhibitor, H7 (10 pM) and blocked completely in HeLa cells preincubated with the phospholipase C inhibitor, neomycin (5 mM). The minimum time of shear stress exposure required t o induce the c-fos protein expression in HeLa cells was found to be as low as 1 min. By Northern analysis, the c-fos mRNA levels were found to be elevated in BAEC, CHO, and HeLa cells exposed t o 25 dyn/cm2 for 30 min. These studies indicate that c-fos induction is a consistent genetic response in a variety of mammalian cells that may alter cellular phenotype in mechanical environments.

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