ATP-sensitive K+ channels regulated by intracellular Ca2+ and phosphorylation in normal (T84) and cystic fibrosis (CFPAC-1) epithelial cells.

The elementary K+ conductance activated by the cAMP or the Ca2+ second messenger pathways was investigated in the model salt-secreting epithelium, the human T84 cell line. Under Cl(-)-free conditions, an inwardly rectifying whole-cell K+ current was evoked by either forskolin 10 (mumol/l) or acetylcholine 1 (mumol/l) and blocked by extracellular charybdotoxin 10 (nmol/l). In the cell-attached mode, both secretory agonists induced the opening of a channel showing inward rectification with a unitary chord conductance of 36.8 +/- 2.5 pS (n = 26) for inward currents. In inside-out patches, a 35-pS inwardly rectifying K+ channel that corresponded to the channel recorded in the cell-attached configuration was recorded in the presence of 0.3 mumol/l free Ca2+ at the inner side of the membrane. This channel was blocked by Ba2+ (5 mumol/l) and by charybdotoxin (50 nmol/l). Its open probability was enhanced by intracellular Ca2+ with and EC50 of 0.25 mumol/l and strongly reduced by intracellular MgATP with an IC50 of 600 mumol/l. In the continuous presence of ATP, the channel activity was consistently increased by 125 kU/l catalytic subunit of cAMP-dependent protein kinase. In the cystic fibrosis pancreatic duct cell line CFPAC-1, a K+ channel was also recorded, with similar characteristics and regulation as the 35-pS channel in T84 cells. We conclude that an ATP-sensitive K+ channel regulated by intracellular Ca2+ and phosphorylation supports the main K+ current activated by secretory agonists in normal cystic fibrosis cell lines.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Interferon-gamma downregulates CFTR gene expression in epithelial cells.

Cystic fibrosis (CF) is caused by mutations in the CF transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) gene, resulting in defective transepithelial Cl- transport. The regulation of CF gene expression is not fully understood. We report that interferon-gamma (IFN-gamma), but not IFN-alpha or -beta, downregulates CFTR mRNA levels in two colon-derived epithelial cell lines, HT-29 and T84, in a time- and concentration (from 0.1 IU/ml)-dependent manner. IFN-gamma has no effect on the transcription rate of the CFTR gene but reduces CFTR mRNA half-life, indicating that it exerts a posttranscriptional regulation of CFTR expression, at least partly, through destabilization of the transcripts. Cells treated with IFN-gamma contain subnormal amounts of 165-kDa CFTR protein. Assays of adenosine 3',5'-cyclic monophosphate-stimulated 36Cl- efflux and whole cell currents show that CFTR function is diminished in IFN-gamma-treated cells. IFN-gamma and tumor necrosis factor-alpha synergistically reduce CFTR gene expression. Our results suggest that production of these cytokines in response to bacterial infections and inflammatory disorders may alter transmembrane Cl- transport.

Abnormal subcellular localization of mutated CFTR protein in a cystic fibrosis epithelial cell line.

The cystic fibrosis gene product, CFTR, is a Cl- channel that possesses specific binding sites for cytosolic ATP and is activated by cAMP-dependent protein kinase. Most recently, it was reported that CFTR localizes at the surface apical compartment of normal airway epithelial cells, but accumulates in the cytosol of airway cells from CF patients with the delta F508 mutation. In order to explore whether the same difference exists in normal and CF established cell lines that are commonly used in physiological and pharmacological investigations of the CF defect, we employed monoclonal antibodies raised against synthetic peptides corresponding to two different regions of the CFTR protein. One antibody (MATG 1061) was generated against amino acids 503-515 delta 508 in the nucleotide binding domain 1, whereas the other (MATG 1031) was generated against amino acids 107-117 situated in a putative external loop. We used confocal laser scanning microscopy to localize the CFTR protein in T84 (a colonic derived carcinoma), CAPAN-1 (a pancreatic carcinoma), and in CFPAC-1 (a pancreatic carcinoma homozygous for the delta F508 deletion) cell lines. In permeabilized T84 and CAPAN-1 cells, immunolabeling with MATG 1061 predominated at the apical domain. By contrast, CFTR staining with MATG 1061 was homogeneously distributed in the cytoplasm of CFPAC-1 cells. In non-permeabilized non-CF cell lines, MATG 1031 specifically labeled an apical membrane surface epitope. No such labeling was present in CFPAC-1 cells.(ABSTRACT TRUNCATED AT 250 WORDS)

Concomitant activation of Cl- and K+ currents by secretory stimulation in human epithelial cells.

1. Whole-cell currents were investigated in the model salt-secreting epithelium, human T84 cell line, by means of the perforated patch-clamp technique. In the control extracellular medium containing Cl-, depolarizing voltage ramps evoked current responses which peaked at 5.43 +/- 0.81 pA pF-1 at +60 mV and had a reversal potential (Erev) of -38.4 +/- 2.5 mV (n = 23). 2. Activation of the cAMP pathway with forskolin increased the current at +60 mV from 3.81 +/- 0.61 to 20.79 +/- 5.08 pA pF-1 (n = 18). In thirteen cells, Erev was initially shifted towards positive potentials (Erev of the cAMP-activated initial current was -18.2 +/- 1.2 mV) and subsequently shifted towards more negative potentials, consistent with the activation of both Cl- and K+ currents during cAMP stimulation. 3. Increasing the intracellular Ca2+ concentration, [Ca2+]i, with ionomycin (1 microM) or with acetylcholine (1 microM), increased the current at +60 mV from 7.79 +/- 1.57 to 57.50 +/- 12.10 pA pF-1 (n = 6) and from 6.36 to 34.13 pA pF-1 (n = 4), respectively. With both agonists, Erev was shifted either towards the reversal potential for potassium, EK, or towards the reversal potential for chloride, ECl, depending on the cell. 4. In the absence of chloride ions (gluconate substituted), stimulation of the Ca2+ pathway activated a time-independent outward current of large amplitude. This current exhibited inward rectification at positive voltages, reverted at -89.5 +/- 0.2 mV and was markedly reduced by charybdotoxin (10 nM), a specific blocker of Ca(2+)-activated K+ channels. When a voltage step protocol was used, increased [Ca2+]i also activated an outward current at potentials more positive than -40 mV which slowly relaxed during depolarizing steps. 5. The activation of both (i) a time-dependent inwardly rectifying charybdotoxin-sensitive K+ current, and (ii) a time-dependent slowly inactivating current was also produced by cAMP stimulation. 6. We concluded that (i) in the T84 epithelial cells, both Cl- and K+ currents are concomitantly increased by secretagogue stimulation, and (ii) two different types of K+ conductances are activated by either the cAMP or the intracellular Ca2+ secreting pathways.

Effects of sulphonylureas on cAMP-stimulated Cl- transport via the cystic fibrosis gene product in human epithelial cells.

The cystic fibrosis gene product (CFTR) is a Cl- channel that possesses specific binding sites for cytosolic adenosine triphosphate (ATP) and is activated by cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP)-dependent protein kinases. We explored the possibility that CFTR shares a common pharmacology with another ATP-regulated channel protein, the ATP-sensitive K+ channel that is blocked by sulphonylureas and activated by diazoxide. cAMP-stimulated Cl- effluxes were measured with 36Cl- in the epithelial cell line T84 which stably expresses CFTR. Neither glibenclamide (30 microM), tolbutamide (1 mM) nor diazoxide (100 microM) significantly affected forskolin-activated 36Cl- effluxes in T84 cells. In patch-clamp experiments, glibenclamide exerted only weak inhibitory effects on the whole-cell currents through CFTR with an IC50 of around 0.1 mM. Tolbutamide at 1 mM, but not at 0.1 mM, blocked a current of small amplitude which reversed near the equilibrium potential for K+ ions. We conclude that sulphonylureas and diazoxide are not effective antagonists of endogenous CFTR Cl- channels.