Secretion by neutrophils contributes to acute inflammation following injury or infection. Vimentin has been shown to be important for secretion by neutrophils but little is known about its dynamics during secretion, which is regulated by cyclin-dependent kinase 5 (Cdk5). In this study, we sought to examine the vimentin dynamics and its potential regulation by Cdk5 during neutrophil secretion. We show that vimentin is a Cdk5 substrate that is specifically phosphorylated at Ser56. In response to neutrophil stimulation with GTP, vimentin Ser56 was phosphorylated and colocalized with Cdk5 in the cytoplasmic compartment. Vimentin pSer56 and Cdk5 colocalization was consistent with coimmunoprecipitation from stimulated cells. Vimentin Ser56 phosphorylation occurred immediately after stimulation, and a remarkable increase in phosphorylation was noted later in the secretory process. Decreased GTP-induced vimentin Ser56 phosphorylation and secretion resulted from inhibition of Cdk5 activity by roscovitine or olomoucine or by depletion of Cdk5 by siRNA, suggesting that GTP-induced Cdk5-mediated vimentinSer56 phosphorylation may be related to GTP-inducedCdk5-mediated secretion by neutrophils. Indeed, inhibition of vimentin Ser56 phosphorylation led to a corresponding inhibition of GTP-induced secretion, indicating a link between these two events. While fMLP also induced vimentin Ser56 phosphorylation, such phosphorylation was unaffected by roscovitine, which nonetheless, inhibited secretion, suggesting that Cdk5 regulates fMLP-induced secretion via a mechanism independent of Cdk5-mediated vimentin Ser56 phosphorylation. These findings demonstrate the distinct involvement of Cdk5 in GTP-and fMLP-induced secretion by neutrophils, and support the notion that specific targeting of Cdk5 may serve to inhibit the neutrophil secretory process.The neutrophil is the first cell type recruited to a site of infection or inflammation. One of the mechanisms used by the neutrophil to destroy infectious agents or to mediate the inflammatory process in a variety of clinical scenarios is to secrete its granule contents. Regulation of secretion from the neutrophil is key to the balance between host defense and tissue injury (Nathan, 2006
CIHR Author ManuscriptCIHR Author Manuscript CIHR Author Manuscript independent GTP-regulated mechanism of secretion in neutrophils (Rosales and Ernst, 2000). Other nucleotide-mediated mechanisms of activation in neutrophils such as adenosine-5′-triphosphate (ATP)-and uridine-5′-triphosphate (UTP)-induced stimulation have been shown to be regulated by protein kinases, including the p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (p38MAPK) and the extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK1/2) (Meshki et al., 2004). Our studies showed that GTP-dependent secretion from neutrophils is mediated by cyclin-dependent kinase 5 (Cdk5) (Rosales et al., 2004a). However, the mechanisms underlying this process remain to be investigated.Cdk5, a small proline-directed serine/threonine kinase, has close structural homology with...