Cadmium induces apoptosis by miR-9-5p targeting PTEN and regulates the PI3K/AKT pathway in the piglet adrenal gland.

Cadmium (Cd) is an environmental pollutant that can cause endocrine organ damage. To explore the effect of subacute CdCl2 exposure on piglet adrenal gland tissue and its mechanism based on the establishment of this model, bioinformatics, TUNEL assay, western blot (WB), and qRT-PCR methods were used to detect related indicators. The results showed that after Cd exposure, antioxidant enzymes decreased, heat shock protein increased, and miR-9-5p-gene of phosphatase and tensin homolog (PTEN) upregulates the phosphatidylinositol-3-kinase (PI3K/AKT) pathway. After this pathway was activated, the expression of the apoptosis-related factors cysteinyl aspartate-specific proteinase 3 and 9 (caspase 3 and 9), B-cell lymphoma-2-associated X (BAX) was increased sharply, and the expression of B-cell lymphoma-2 (BCL2) was significantly decreased. The changes in these indicators indicate that Cd exposure induces apoptosis and causes tissue damage in the adrenal gland of piglets. This study aims to reveal the toxic effects of CdCl2 in animals and will provide new ideas for the toxicology of Cd.

Proteinase 3 Induces Neuronal Cell Death Through Microglial Activation.

Proteinase 3 (PR3) is released from neutrophil granules and is involved in the inflammatory process. PR3 is implicated in antimicrobial defense and cell death, but the exact role of PR3 in the brain is less defined. Microglia is the major immune effector cells in the CNS and is activated by brain injury. In the present study, the effect of PR3 on glial activation was investigated. Microglial activation was assessed by the intracellular level of reactive oxygen species and expression of inflammatory cytokines. The conditioned media from activated microglia by PR3 was used for measuring the neurotoxic effects of PR3-stimulated microglia. The effects of PR3 in vivo were measured by microinjecting PR3 into the rat brain. Herein we show that PR3 increased the inflammatory responses including the intracellular ROS and pro-inflammatory cytokine production in rat primary microglia. Conditioned media from PR3-treated microglia induced neuronal cell death in a concentration dependent manner. Furthermore, microinjected PR3 into the striatum of the rat brain induced microglial activation and neuronal cell death. Interestingly treatment with anti-PR3 monoclonal antibody and protease inhibitors ameliorated microglial activation induced by PR3 in primary microglia and striatum, which also prevented neuronal cell death in both conditions. The data presented here suggest that PR3 is a direct modulator of microglial activation and causes neuronal death through the augmentation of inflammatory responses. We suggest that PR3 could be a new modulator of neuroinflammation, and blocking PR3 would be a promising novel therapeutic target for neuroinflammatory disease such as stroke and Alzheimer's disease.

Proteinase 3 induces oxidative stress-mediated neuronal death in rat primary cortical neuron.

The recruitment of neutrophils into the cerebral microcirculation occurs, especially, in acute brain diseases like a focal cerebral ischemia and plays important role in pathological processes. Proteinase 3 is one of the three major proteinases expressed in neutrophils but no reports are available whether proteinase 3 can modulate neuronal survival. In this study, treatment of cultured rat primary cortical neuron with proteinase 3 induced overt reactive oxygen species production and decreased total glutathione contents as well as disruption of mitochondrial transmembrane potential. Proteinase 3 induced neuronal cell death as evidenced by MTT analysis as well as propidium iodide staining, which was prevented by pretreatment with an antioxidant, N-acetyl cysteine. Proteinase 3 increased activation of procaspase-3 and altered expression level of apoptotic regulator proteins, such as Bcl-2, Bax, and Bcl-xL. Similar to in vitro data, a direct microinjection of proteinase 3 into striatum of rat brain induced neuronal death, which was mediated by reactive oxygen species. These results suggest that proteinase 3 is new essential regulator of neuronal cell death pathway in a condition of excess neutrophil encounter in neuroinflammatory conditions.

Neutrophil proteinase 3 induces diabetes in a mouse model of glucose tolerance.

Type 1 diabetes is considered to be an autoimmune disease in which T cells attack pancreatic islet cells. Impaired glucose tolerance with type 2 diabetes has been classified as an obesity-associated metabolic syndrome. However, recent studies have revealed that type 2 diabetes is an autoinflammatory disease due to an imbalance of inflammatory cytokine production and related molecular components that cause inflammation. Insulin-like growth factor (IGF) and the insulin-like growth factor-binding protein-3 (IGFBP3) system are known to be involved in the development of experimental diabetic nephropathy, and urinary IGFBP3 protease activity has been observed in patients with type 2 diabetes. A serine protease was found to be responsible for the proteolytic activity in diabetic urine; however, the identity of the precise enzyme remains unknown. We investigated neutrophil proteinase 3 (PR3) to see whether it has specific enzymatic activity associated with insulin-like growth factor-1 and IGFBP3. In our study, both molecules were sufficiently degraded, which leads us to believe that PR3 may induce insulin resistance in the mouse model utilized. In addition, we found that PR3 in the urine of diabetic patients similarly affects insulin resistance. Moreover, PR3-immunized mice had an increase in glucose clearance due to inhibition of PR3 activity. As such, PR3 can be considered as an inflammatory enzyme directly linking inflammation to type 2 diabetes through downregulation of insulin-like growth factor-1/IGFBP3.

Elevated neutrophil membrane expression of proteinase 3 is dependent upon CD177 expression.

Proteinase 3 (PR3) is a major autoantigen in anti-neutrophil cytoplasmic antibodies (ANCA)-associated systemic vasculitis (AASV), and the proportion of neutrophils expressing PR3 on their membrane (mPR3+) is increased in AASV. We have shown recently that mPR3 and CD177 are expressed on the same cells in healthy individuals. In this study we try to elucidate mechanisms behind the increased mPR3 expression in AASV and its relationship to CD177. All neutrophils in all individuals were either double-positive or double-negative for mPR3 and CD177. The proportion of double-positive neutrophils was increased significantly in AASV and systemic lupus erythematosus patients. The proportion of mPR3+/CD177+ cells was not correlated to general inflammation, renal function, age, sex, drug treatment and levels of circulating PR3. AASV patients had normal levels of granulocyte colony-stimulating factor and granulocyte-macrophage colony-stimulating factor. Pro-PR3 was found to constitute 10% of circulating PR3 but none of the mPR3. We found increased mRNA levels of both PR3 and CD177 in AASV, but they did not correlate with the proportion of double-positive cells. In cells sorted based on membrane expression, CD177-mRNA was several-fold higher in mPR3+ cells. When exogenous PR3 was added to CD177-transfected U937 cells, only CD177+ cells bound PR3 to their membrane. In conclusion, the increased membrane expression of PR3 found in AASV is not linked directly to circulating PR3 or PR3 gene transcription, but is dependent upon CD177 expression and correlated with the transcription of the CD177 gene.

Neutrophil-mediated activation of epithelial protease-activated receptors-1 and -2 regulates barrier function and transepithelial migration.

Neutrophil (PMN) infiltration and associated release of serine proteases contribute to epithelial injury during active phases of mucosal disorders such as inflammatory bowel disease. Previous studies have demonstrated that PMN contact with basolateral surfaces of intestinal epithelial cells in the presence of a chemoattractant results in disruption of barrier function even without transmigration. Similarly, serine protease-mediated activation of epithelial protease-activated receptors (PARs) has been shown to increase permeability. In this study, we assessed whether transmigrating PMNs can regulate barrier function through epithelial PAR activation. Transepithelial resistance (TER) decreased significantly after PMN contact with basolateral surfaces of T84 monolayers or after incubation with PMN elastase and proteinase-3, but not cathepsin G. Inhibition of PMN serine proteases, but not selective inhibition of elastase or cathepsin G, prevented the fall in TER induced by PMN contact and blocked PMN transepithelial migration. Basolateral, but not apical, PAR-1 and -2 activation with selective agonists also decreased TER. PAR-1 and -2 were localized intracellularly and in close proximity to lateral surfaces beneath tight junctions, and expression was increased in colonic mucosa from individuals with Crohn's disease. Combined, but not individual, transfection with small interfering RNAs targeted against epithelial PAR-1 and -2, prevented the fall in TER induced by PMN contact. Furthermore, basolateral PAR-1 and -2 activation induced phosphorylation of myosin L chain kinase and regulatory myosin L chain. Lastly, epithelial PAR-1 and -2 knockdown decreased the rate of PMN transepithelial migration. These results suggest that protease-mediated epithelial PAR-1 and -2 activation, by migrating PMNs, induces signaling events that increase epithelial permeability thereby facilitates PMN transepithelial migration.