Nitric oxide is a short-lived cytotoxic mediator that has been implicated in the pathogenesis of endotoxin-induced tissue injury and septic shock. In the present studies we determined whether this mediator is produced in the lung during acute endotoxemia. We found that intravenous injection of rats with bacterially derived lipopolysaccharide (LPS), a condition that induces acute endotoxemia, caused a time-dependent increase in inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) mRNA expression in the lung, which reached a maximum after 24 h. This was correlated with nitric oxide production in the lung as measured by electron paramagnetic spin trapping, which was detectable within 6 h. Alveolar macrophages (AMs) and interstitial macrophages (IMs) isolated from rats 6-12 h after induction of acute endotoxemia were also found to exhibit increased nitric oxide production in response to in vitro stimulation with interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma) and LPS measured by nitrite accumulation in the culture medium. The effects of acute endotoxemia on nitric oxide production by these cells were, however, transient and returned to control levels by 24 h in AMs and 36 h in IMs. Interestingly, although nitrite accumulation in the culture medium of IMs isolated 48 h after induction of acute endotoxemia and stimulated with low concentrations of IFN-gamma and LPS was reduced, when compared with cells from control animals, these cells, as well as AMs, continued to express high levels of iNOS protein and mRNA. This was correlated with increased peroxynitrite production by the cells. Peroxynitrite has been shown to act as a nitrating agent and can generate nitrotyrosine residues in proteins. Using a specific antibody and immunohistochemistry, we found evidence of nitrotyrosine residues in sections of lungs 48 h after treatment of rats with endotoxin. These data suggest that nitric oxide produced by IMs and AMs can react with superoxide anion to form peroxynitrite. Taken together, the present studies demonstrate that AMs and IMs are activated following acute endotoxemia to produce reactive nitrogen intermediates and that both cell types contribute to inflammatory responses in the lung.

We have studied the activity of the AP-1 site, a target for the Fos and Jun family of transcription factors, in the context of the human stromelysin promoter (-1303 to +4). In transiently transfected human HepG2, HeLa and fibroblast cell cultures, point-mutations in any position of the stromelysin AP-1 sequence TGAGTCA (-70 to -64) reduced both the basal level and TPA-induced expression from the stromelysin promoter. TPA-induction fold of the mutant promoters, however, was comparable to that of the wild-type promoter. Similarly, antisense c-Fos mRNA expression reduced basal activity but had no significant effect on the relative TPA-response of the stromelysin promoter. Further, in mouse F9 cells cotransfected with c-Fos and c-Jun expression plasmids, the transfected wild-type stromelysin promoter activity was increased 57-fold whereas no transactivation was detected for an AP-1 mutant stromelysin promoter. In gelshift assays, stromelysin promoter fragments (-101 to -11), containing the mutated AP-1 site, all failed to bind or compete for the in vitro synthesized Fos and Jun proteins. We interpret these data to suggest that the Fos and Jun proteins, or similar activity, and the AP-1 site are required for the basal level expression of the human stromelysin gene. Strikingly, these data also suggest that the stromelysin AP-1 site is not necessary for the TPA-response.

Alport syndrome is a mainly X-linked hereditary disease of basement membranes characterized by progressive renal failure, deafness, and ocular lesions. The alpha 3(IV) and alpha 4(IV) collagen genes have been recently shown to be involved in the less frequent autosomal recessive form. When screening lymphocyte COL4A3 mRNAs from Alport patients, we found a mutant whose transcripts were disrupted by a 74 bp insertion at the junction of exons IV or V and VI. The insertion derives from an antisense Alu element in COL4A3 intron V, which has been spliced into the alpha 3(IV) mRNA due to a G to T transversion activating a cryptic acceptor splice site in this Alu element. There is complete segregation of this mutation with the disease in the family. Our findings provide the first evidence for the pathogenic role of abnormal splicing of COL4A3. Moreover, we demonstrate the superiority of mutation screening at the mRNA level to detect a hitherto poorly recognized mutation mechanism in humans, splice-mediated insertion of an Alu fragment into a coding sequence.

Platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF) induces the expression of human stromelysin-1, a matrix metalloproteinase involved in tumor invasion and metastasis. Here it is shown that stromelysin-1 gene induction by PDGF depends on Ras and involves three previously identified promoter elements (the stromelysin-1 PDGF-responsive element (SPRE) site, the two head-to-head polyomavirus enhancer A-binding protein-3 (PEA3) sites, and the activator protein-1 (AP-1) binding site). During mitogenic induction, these responsive elements appear to be organized in two independent transcriptional units, SPRE-AP-1 and PEA3-AP-1, which result from specific element cross-talking. Interestingly, expression of a dominant negative mutant of Raf-1 significantly interfered with the induction through PEA3-AP-1 but not with that operating through SPRE-AP-1. Conversely, only the induction operating through SPRE-AP-1 was affected significantly by the expression of a dominant negative mutant of the atypical / protein kinase C (/PKC). These data strongly suggest that the signal triggered by PDGF flows through Ras and bifurcates toward two distinct pathways, one operating through Raf and involving PEA3-AP-1 and the other one Raf-independent, operating through /PKC and SPRE-AP-1. Furthermore, we present evidence suggesting that the novel SPRE-binding transcription factor SPBP cross-couples with c-Jun to transactivate the SPRE site.

Stromelysin-1, a tissue-remodelling metalloproteinase synthesized by fibroblasts, has proteolytic activity against a variety of extracellular matrix components. Stromelysin-1 gene transcription is induced by the inflammatory cytokine interleukin (IL)-1. In fibroblasts transiently transfected with constructs containing 5'-deletion mutants of the human stromelysin-1 gene promoter, IL-1-induced transcriptional activity was abolished with the removal of region -102 to -54. This region includes an AP-1 binding site at positions -70 to -64. The AP-1 site alone increased the basal activity of and conferred minimal IL-1 inducibility onto the heterologous gene promoter of thymidine kinase. Interestingly, although the removal of the AP-1 site from the native promoter (-1303 to +4) affected the absolute levels of IL-1-induced and basal promoter activity, it did not alter their ratio, indicating the involvement of regions outside the AP-1 site in the IL-1 response. Of the stromelysin-1 5' flanking sequence examined, only the region -274 to -54 could confer IL-1 inducibility to a heterologous promoter independently of the AP-1 site. This region also bound specific nuclear factors. Further analysis revealed that the region composed of -86 to -71 and -63 to -54 could independently respond to IL-1 and bind protein of whole cell extracts. Protein binding to this region and to the AP-1 site was modestly induced by IL-1 treatment. From these results we conclude that, in fibroblasts, the AP-1 site (-70 to -64) is not necessary for the IL-1 response; however, it probably interacts through protein associations with the responsive region immediately surrounding it in the absolute transcriptional activation of the human stromelysin-1 gene by IL-1.