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Endocrinology Vol. 139, No. 5 2414-2422
Copyright © 1998 by The Endocrine Society


ARTICLES

Cytokine Regulation of the Rat Proopiomelanocortin Gene Expression in AtT-20 Cells

Masahito Katahira, Yasumasa Iwasaki, Yoshiaki Aoki, Yutaka Oiso and Hidehiko Saito

First Department of Internal Medicine, Nagoya University School of Medicine, Nagoya 466, Japan


    Abstract
 Top
 Abstract
 Introduction
 Materials and Methods
 Results
 Discussion
 References
 
Although cytokines are known to be involved in the regulation of ACTH secretion, their effects, along with the molecular mechanisms, on POMC gene expression are not thoroughly characterized. In this study we examined the effects of representative cytokines on transcription of the POMC gene in corticotrophs in vitro using AtT20PL, a clone of the AtT20 cell line stably transfected with approximately 0.7 kilobase of the rat POMC 5'-promoter-luciferase fusion gene. In each experiment, cells were incubated with the cytokine tested, and the changes in POMC 5'-promoter activity were determined by a luciferase assay. The results showed that interleukin-1ß (IL-1ß) stimulated promoter activity in a biphasic manner [weak short term effects (2–3 h) followed by potent long term effects (>12–16 h)]. Tumor necrosis factor-{alpha} had similar effects, but much less potency. IL-6 showed a profound stimulatory, but only a long term (>20 h), effect. IL-2 did not influence POMC expression. In contrast, interferon-{alpha} (IFN{alpha}) and IFN-{gamma} showed acute stimulatory effects (~4 h) followed by marked inhibitory effects (>8 h). Although the acute effects of IL-1ß, IL-6, and tumor necrosis factor-{alpha} alone were minimal, they significantly potentiated the stimulatory effect of CRH on POMC expression. Finally, pretreatment of the cells with a broad spectrum tyrosine kinase inhibitor, genistein, abolished or significantly diminished the effects of all cytokines except IFNs. Our results suggest that 1) each cytokine tested has a distinct effect on POMC gene expression; 2) there are positive cross-talk effects between CRH and cytokines at the corticotroph level; and 3) tyrosine phosphorylation cascades are involved in the intracellular signaling mechanisms of some cytokines.


    Introduction
 Top
 Abstract
 Introduction
 Materials and Methods
 Results
 Discussion
 References
 
THE HYPOTHALAMO-PITUITARY-ADRENAL (HPA) axis plays a pivotal role in protecting mammalian organisms against stress (1). When an organism suffers stressful stimuli, CRH, a major secretagogue of ACTH, or some other factors are released from the hypothalamus into the hypophyseal portal vein for the anterior pituitary. ACTH secreted from the corticotrophs, in turn, stimulates adrenal glucocorticoid hormone release, which exhibits diverse systemic actions against stress.

In addition to the classical neuroendocrine responses to stress, the HPA axis has been shown to respond to immunological challenges. Recent studies demonstrate that various cytokines generated during infectious stress are involved in the regulation of the HPA axis, establishing the concept of immune-neuroendocrine interaction (2, 3). In many cases, cytokines have been shown to influence ACTH secretion by acting through the hypothalamus and modulating CRH secretion. Some cytokines, however, may also have direct effects on corticotroph cells in the anterior pituitary. In any event, the effects of cytokines on ACTH secretion have been well characterized through both in vivo and in vitro studies.

On the other hand, the effects of cytokines on ACTH synthesis, especially on the expression of the POMC gene that encodes ACTH and related neuropeptides, are not nearly as well characterized. Furthermore, intracellular signaling pathways of the cytokines that mediate the regulation of POMC gene transcription largely remain to be clarified. Thus, in this paper, we studied the effects of representative cytokines such as IL-1ß, IL-2, IL-6, tumor necrosis factor-{alpha} (TNF{alpha}), interferon-{alpha} (IFN{alpha}), and IFN{gamma}, either alone or combined with CRH, on POMC gene expression using the AtT20 mouse corticotroph tumor cell line transfected stably with the POMC 5'-promoter-luciferase fusion gene. We also tried to elucidate the possible role of tyrosine phosphorylation cascades in the intracellular signaling of each cytokine using a specific inhibitor of tyrosine kinases, because the mechanisms are shown to be involved throughout most of the signal transduction of cytokines in nonendocrine cells (4).


    Materials and Methods
 Top
 Abstract
 Introduction
 Materials and Methods
 Results
 Discussion
 References
 
Materials
Recombinant mouse IL-1ß, IL-2, IL-6, and TNF{alpha} were obtained from Boehringer Mannheim (Indianapolis, IN), and recombinant mouse IFN{alpha} and IFN{gamma} were obtained from Hycult Biotechnology (Uden, The Netherlands) and Genzyme (Cambridge, MA), respectively. CRH was obtained from the Peptide Institute (Osaka, Japan), and forskolin, 8-bromo-cAMP (8Br-cAMP), and 4',5,7-trihydroxyisoflavone (genistein) were purchased from Sigma (St. Louis, MO).

Transfection and cell culture
Establishment of the AtT20PL cell line used in this study was described previously (5). Briefly, AtT20/D16v mouse corticotroph cells were transfected stably with the plasmid (pA3Luc) (6) containing an approximately 0.7-kilobase XmnI fragment of the rat POMC gene 5'-promoter (-708 to +64; +1 indicates the transcription start site), and a representative clone, designated AtT20PL, was used for the subsequent experiments. Several other clones obtained at the same time were used when necessary.

The cells were maintained in a T-75 culture flask with DMEM (Life Technologies, Grand Islands, NY) supplemented with 10% FBS (Life Technologies) and antibiotics (50 µU/ml penicillin and 50 µg/ml streptomycin; Life Technologies) under a 5% CO2-95% air atmosphere at 37 C. Culture media were changed twice a week, and the cells were subcultured once a week.

Experiments
For each experiment, AtT20PL cells were plated in 3.5-cm diameter culture dishes with approximately 50% confluence. The next day, the culture media were changed to DMEM supplemented with 1% FBS, and the cells were further cultured for 4 days, during time which the culture media were changed every other day.

On the day of each experiment, solutions for all test reagents, in 1000-fold concentration, or solvent alone were added directly to the culture medium of each dish, and the cells were incubated for the designated period. At the end of incubation, the culture media were removed, and the cells were harvested for luciferase assay (see below). In the experiments in which ACTH secretion was studied, the culture medium was changed to the serum-free medium before the addition of test reagents. After the cells were incubated for 24 h, the culture medium from each dish was collected for ACTH assay (see below).

We carried out preliminary experiments using different clones of the stable transformants other than AtT20PL and confirmed that the results obtained show common characteristics among the clones, although some qualitative differences in the time course and the magnitude of the effects were observed.

Luciferase assay
The luciferase assay was performed as previously described (7) with some modifications. At the end of each experiment, the cells were washed twice with PBS without Ca2+ and Mg2+; harvested with lysis buffer containing 1% (vol/vol) Triton X-100, 25 mM glycylglycine (pH 7.8), 15 mM MgSO4, 4 mM EGTA, and 1 mM dithiothreitol (DTT); and centrifuged at 18,000 x g for 30 min. For luciferase assay, 100 µl of each supernatant were added to 400 µl assay buffer containing 25 mM glycylglycine (pH 7.8), 15 mM MgSO4, 4 mM EGTA, 15 mM potassium phosphate buffer (pH 7.8), 2 mM ATP, 1 mM DTT, and 0.5 mM coenzyme A. The reactions were started by the injection of 200 µl luciferin solution containing 0.2 mM D-luciferin (Wako Chemical Co., Osaka, Japan), 25 mM glycylglycine (pH 7.8), 15 mM MgSO4, 4 mM EGTA, and 2 mM DTT. Light output was measured for 20 sec at room temperature using a luminometer (Berthold Lumat LB9501, Bad Wildbad, Germany).

ACTH assay
ACTH in culture medium was measured by radioimmunometric assay (ACTH immunoradiometric assay kit, Mitsubishi Chemical, Tokyo, Japan).

Protein and cell viability assays
To determine the effect of each cytokine on cell growth and/or viability, a separate experiment for each test substance was carried out. AtT20PL cells were treated with a cytokine or vehicle for the designated time interval during which the maximal effect was obtained (28, 32, 24, and 32 h for IL-1ß, IL-6, TNF{alpha}, and IFNs, respectively). At the end of incubation, cells were lysed by the freeze-thaw method using PBS without Triton X-100 and DTT to avoid interference with the protein assay and were centrifuged at 18,000 x g for 30 min. The protein concentration in the supernatant was determined using a micro-BCA protein assay kit (Pierce Chemical Co., Rockford, IL).

As shown in Results, some cytokines (IFNs) markedly reduced the POMC promoter activity. To determine whether the effect is due to cytotoxicity of the cytokine, AtT20PL cells were treated with IFN{gamma} for 32 h, and cell viability was estimated by a trypan blue dye exclusion procedure.

Data analyses
Most of the experiments were carried out more than twice, and a representative set of data is presented. Samples in each group of the experiments were in triplicate or quadruplicate. All data were expressed as the mean ± SEM. When the statistical analyses were performed, data were compared by one-way ANOVA with Fisher’s multiple range test, and P < 0.05 was considered significant.


    Results
 Top
 Abstract
 Introduction
 Materials and Methods
 Results
 Discussion
 References
 
Effect of IL-1ß on POMC 5' promoter activity
IL-1ß stimulated POMC gene expression in a time- and dose-related manner. The long term time-course study (0–32 h) showed that the maximal effect (~2.3-fold increase) was observed 28 h after the start of incubation (Fig. 1AGo). The dose-response study at 28 h showed that the significant stimulatory effect was obtained at a concentration as low as 1 pM, with the maximal effect at 100 pM. Furthermore, the short term time-course (0–5 h) and dose-response studies revealed that there was another small peak (~1.2-fold increase) 2–3 h after the start of incubation (Fig. 1BGo), thus representing a biphasic pattern of the effect. IL-1ß did not influence the growth rate and/or the viability of the cells during the incubation (data not shown). This was also the case with IL-6 and TNF{alpha} (data not shown).



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Figure 1. The long term (A) and short term (B) effects of IL-1ß on POMC 5'-promoter activity in AtT20PL cells. A, Cells were treated with IL-1ß (100 pM) for 0–32 h (time-course study; left) or with IL-1ß (0.1 pM to 1 nM) for 28 h (dose-response study; right). B, Cells were treated with IL-1ß (1 nM) for 0–5 h (time-course study; left) or with IL-1ß (0.1 pM to 1 nM) for 2 h (dose-response study; right). Each value is shown as a percentage of the basal value. *, P < 0.05 vs. the control. **, P < 0.01 vs. the control or value at time zero. C, Control.

 
Effect of IL-2 on POMC 5'-promoter activity
IL-2 (0.1 pM to 1 nM) showed no significant effect on POMC gene expression in either long (0–32 h) or short term (0–6 h) time-course experiments (data not shown).

Effect of IL-6 on POMC 5'-promoter activity
IL-6 stimulated POMC gene expression in a time-related manner. The long term (0–32 h; Fig. 2Go) and short term (data not shown) time course studies showed that the increase was observed at 3 h and was maximal (~1.7-fold increase) at 32 h after the start of incubation, thus representing the monophasic pattern of the effect. The dose-response study at 32 h showed that the significant stimulatory effect was obtained only at 1 nM.



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Figure 2. The effects of IL-6 on POMC 5'-promoter activity in AtT20PL cells. Cells were treated with IL-6 (1 nM) for 0–32 h (time-course study; left) or with IL-6 (0.1 pM to 1 nM) for 32 h (dose-response study; right). Each value is shown as a percentage of the basal value. *, P < 0.05 vs. the value at time zero. **, P < 0.01 vs. the control or value at time zero. C, Control.

 
Effect of TNF{alpha} on POMC 5'-promoter activity
TNF{alpha} stimulated POMC gene expression in a time- and dose-related manner. The long term time-course study (0–32 h) showed that the maximal effect (~1.3-fold increase) was observed 20 h after the start of incubation (Fig. 3AGo). The dose-response study at 24 h showed that the significant stimulatory effect was obtained at a concentration as low as 10 pM, with the maximal effect at 100 pM. Furthermore, the short term time-course (0–5 h) and dose-response studies revealed that, like IL-1ß, there was another small peak (~1.1-fold increase) 3–4 h after the start of incubation (Fig. 3BGo).



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Figure 3. The long term (A) and short term (B) effects of TNF{alpha} on POMC 5'-promoter activity in AtT20PL cells. A, Cells were treated with TNF{alpha} (100 pM) for 0–32 h (time-course study; left) or with TNF{alpha} (0.1 pM to 1 nM) for 24 h (dose-response study; right). B, Cells were treated with TNF{alpha} (100 pM) for 0–5 h (time-course study; left) or with TNF{alpha} (0.1 pM to 1 nM) for 3 h (dose-response study; right). Each value is shown as a percentage of the basal value. *, P < 0.05 vs. the value at time zero. **, P < 0.01 vs. the control or value at time zero. C, Control.

 
Effects of IFN{alpha} and IFN{gamma} on POMC 5'-promoter activity
IFN{alpha} and IFN{gamma} showed quite different effects from other cytokines on POMC gene expression; the long term time-course (0–32 h) and dose-response studies showed that IFN{alpha} exerted an acute (~4 h), mild stimulatory effect followed by a delayed, potent inhibitory effect (8 h or later; Fig. 4AGo). A similar effect was obtained with IFN{gamma} (Fig. 4BGo). To determine the cytotoxicity of the IFNs, we carried out the trypan blue dye exclusion procedure after 32-h treatment with IFN{gamma}. The results showed that the cytokine did not affect the cell viability [the percentages of surviving cells were 90.7% (254 of 280) and 90.0% (253 of 281) in the control and IFN{gamma}-treated groups, respectively]. On the other hand, protein assay showed that IFN{gamma}, but not IFN{alpha}, had a mild inhibitory effect on cell growth (27% decrease at 32 h). This, however, does not account for the delayed, potent inhibitory effect (76% decrease at 32 h; Fig. 4BGo) of IFN{gamma} on the POMC 5'-promoter activity.



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Figure 4. The effects of IFN{alpha} (A) and IFN{gamma} (B) on POMC 5'-promoter activity. A, Cells were treated with IFN{alpha} (100 pM) for 0–32 h (time-course study; left) or with IFN{alpha} (0.1 pM to 1 nM) for 32 h (dose-response study; right). B, Cells were treated with IFN{gamma} (1 nM) for 0–32 h (time-course study; left) or with IFN{gamma} (0.1 pM to 1 nM) for 32 h (dose-response study; right). Each value is shown as a percentage of the basal value. *, P < 0.05 vs. the value at time zero. **, P < 0.01 vs. the control or value at time zero. C, Control.

 
Effect of each cytokine on ACTH secretion
The effect of each cytokine on ACTH release was determined by incubating the AtT20PL cells with IL-1ß, IL-6, TNF{alpha}, or IFN{gamma} for 24 h. All cytokines except TNF{alpha} significantly stimulated ACTH secretion, among which IL-1ß showed the most potent effect (Table 1Go). Interestingly, IFN{gamma}, which exerted a long term suppressive effect on POMC expression, still acted positively on ACTH release.


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Table 1. The effect of each cytokine on ACTH secretion

 
Combined effects of CRH and cytokines on POMC 5'-promoter activity
To examine the possible cooperation between cytokines and hypothalamic secretagogues, the combined effects of CRH and IL-1ß/IL-6/TNF{alpha} on POMC expression were examined. CRH (100 nM; 3 h) showed a potent stimulatory effect on POMC 5'-promoter activity (~1.9- to 2.1-fold increase), whereas each cytokine alone (IL-1ß, IL-6, or TNF{alpha}) had a minimal effect (7.3%, 8.4%, and 3.8% increases, respectively; Table 2Go). In contrast, when each cytokine was simultaneously used with CRH, it markedly potentiated the increments produced by CRH (59.0%, 41.1%, and 45.7% increases, respectively).


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Table 2. The combined effects of CRH and IL-1ß/IL-6/TNF{alpha} on POMC 5'-promoter activity

 
Effect of IL-1ß on forskolin- or 8Br-cAMP-induced POMC 5'-promoter activity
To clarify the mechanism by which cytokines potentiate the effect of CRH, as shown in the previous experiment (Table 2Go), the effects of IL-1ß on forskolin- or 8Br-cAMP-induced POMC gene expression were examined. Forskolin (10 µM; 3 h) and 8Br-cAMP alone (5 mM; 3 h) showed potent stimulatory effects on the POMC 5'-promoter activity (~3.4- and 3.9-fold increases, respectively), whereas IL-1ß alone again had minimal effects (7.6–12.9% increase; Table 3Go). When IL-1ß was simultaneously used with forskolin or 8Br-cAMP, however, it potently enhanced the increments they produced (57.1% and 45.4% increase, respectively), just as IL-1ß potentiated the effect of CRH.


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Table 3. The combined effects of forskolin/8Br-cAMP and IL-1ß on POMC 5'-promoter activity

 
Impact of a tyrosine kinase inhibitor on the effect of each cytokine on POMC 5'-promoter activity
Finally, to determine the involvement of tyrosine phosphorylation cascades in the signal transduction of each cytokine, AtT20PL cells were treated with genistein, a representative inhibitor of tyrosine kinases. Pretreatment of the cells with genistein (100 µM) completely abolished the effects of IL-6 and TNF{alpha} and partially eliminated the effect of IL-1ß (Fig. 5Go). In contrast, the effects of IFN{alpha} and IFN{gamma} were not influenced by pretreatment with genistein (Fig. 6Go).



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Figure 5. The effects of a tyrosine kinase inhibitor, genistein, on IL-1ß/IL-6/TNF{alpha}-induced POMC 5'-promoter activity in AtT20PL cells. Cells were pretreated for 2 h with genistein (100 µM) and then treated with IL-1ß (upper panel; 100 pM; 28 h), IL-6 (middle panel; 1 nM; 32 h), or TNF{alpha} (lower panel; 100 pM; 24 h) as well as the inhibitor. Hatched and closed bars represent basal and cytokine-treated values, respectively. Each value is shown as a percentage of the basal value. *, P < 0.05; **, P < 0.01 (vs. the basal value).

 


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Figure 6. The effects of a tyrosine kinase inhibitor, genistein, on IFN{alpha}/IFN{gamma}-induced POMC 5'-promoter activity in AtT20PL cells. Cells were pretreated for 2 h with genistein (100 µM) and then treated with IFN{alpha} (upper panel; 100 pM; 32 h) or IFN{gamma} (lower panel; 1 nM; 32 h) as well as the inhibitor. Hatched and closed bars represent basal and cytokine-treated values, respectively. Each value is shown as a percentage of the basal value. **, P < 0.01 vs. the basal value.

 

    Discussion
 Top
 Abstract
 Introduction
 Materials and Methods
 Results
 Discussion
 References
 
In this report, we studied the effects of representative cytokines on POMC gene expression using AtT20 mouse corticotroph cells transfected stably with the POMC 5'-promoter-luciferase fusion gene. As the intracellular half-life of the luciferase protein is, unlike that of the chloramphenicol acetyltransferase protein or POMC messenger RNA (mRNA), quite short (8), luciferase activity should closely reflect real-time changes in promoter activity. Furthermore, although Northern blot analysis is influenced by changes in both the generation and degradation of mRNA, the reporter protein activity indicates only changes in the transcription rate. Using this model system, we found that all but one cytokine (IL-2) tested showed significant effects on POMC 5'-promoter activity with their own distinct patterns of action. IL-1ß, IL-6, and TNF{alpha} also had short term effects in potentiating the effect of CRH. Furthermore, we found that the tyrosine phosphorylation cascade is involved at least partly in the intracellular signaling of IL-1ß, IL-6, and TNF{alpha} in corticotroph cells.

The effect of IL-1 on ACTH secretion has been extensively studied both in vitro and in vivo, showing an effect via the hypothalamus (9, 10, 11, 12) and/or a direct effect on the corticotroph of the anterior pituitary (13, 14, 15). IL-1 may also modulate cortisol secretion at the adrenal cortex (16). There are some reports indicating that IL-1 increases POMC mRNA in vivo (17) or in vitro both in the primary culture of rat anterior pituitary cells (18) and in AtT20 cells (19). Our data obtained in this study clearly show that IL-1ß stimulates POMC gene expression by acting on the POMC 5'-promoter. As has been reported for its effect on ß-endorphin secretion (20), the dominant effect of IL-1ß on POMC expression appeared very late (16 h or later), in contrast to the effect of CRH, which was much faster (~3 h) (5), suggesting that the mechanisms of action of CRH and IL-1ß are different. The delay in the effect of IL-1ß may be caused by the indirect mechanism of action, such that IL-1ß induces the expression of de novo protein(s) such as transcription factor(s), which, in turn, secondarily exerts a positive effect on POMC gene expression. Interestingly, however, our short term time-course study showed that IL-1ß also has an acute stimulatory effect on POMC expression. Although the magnitude of the short term effect of IL-1ß alone was very weak, it markedly enhanced the effect of CRH when used simultaneously, suggesting the cooperative interaction between CRH and IL-1ß at the corticotroph level. This amplifying effect of IL-1 was reported previously for CRH-induced ß-endorphin secretion (20). As corticotroph cells in the anterior pituitary as well as AtT20 cells have a specific receptor for IL-1ß (21, 22), and the minimal effective concentration of IL-1ß is fairly low (1 pM), we assume that blood-borne IL-1ß can directly influence the expression of the POMC gene when the immune system is activated during infectious stress.

We did not show any effect of IL-2 on the POMC 5'-promoter activity. IL-2 is reported to stimulate ACTH secretion and/or POMC expression both in vivo (23, 24, 25) and in vitro using primary culture of anterior pituitary cells (26) in the rat. On the other hand, Fukata et al. (15) showed no effect of IL-2 on ACTH secretion in AtT20 cells. Thus, it may be possible that IL-2 is acting on ACTH synthesis and secretion not directly on corticotroph cells, but, rather, indirectly through another factor(s) derived from a different cell population of the pituitary gland.

IL-6 has been shown to stimulate ACTH secretion at both hypothalamus and pituitary (15, 27, 28, 29, 30). The effect of IL-6 on POMC gene expression, however, has not yet been examined. Our data clearly show that IL-6 has a long term monophasic stimulatory effect on POMC 5'-promoter activity. Furthermore, like IL-1ß, short term treatment of IL-6 enhanced the effect of CRH. However, the dose-response study revealed that a relatively high concentration of IL-6 (~1 nM) was needed to produce this effect, raising the possibility of local action of the cytokine. In fact, a recent study reports that IL-6 is produced within the anterior pituitary by folliculostellate cells (31). IL-6 is also secreted in the middle lobe of the pituitary by stimulation with lipopolysaccharide or IL-1ß (32). Thus, these reports as well as our data suggest that IL-6 may be acting on the corticotroph cells via paracrine, rather than endocrine, mechanisms.

Previous reports concerning the effects of TNF{alpha} on ACTH secretion have shown that it stimulates the release of the hormone in vivo (33, 34) but not in vitro (14, 33, 35, 36), suggesting that the main effect is via the hypothalamus. Recently, however, Kobayashi et al. (37) showed that TNF{alpha} increases POMC mRNA in AtT20 cells, suggesting a direct effect at the pituitary level as well. We extended their finding by showing that TNF{alpha} stimulates POMC 5'-promoter activity in the corticotroph. The effect was similar to that of IL-1ß, i.e. consisting of both short and long term biphasic effects and occurring at a low concentration (10 pM), suggesting that both cytokines may partly if not totally share similar mechanisms of action. The acute amplifying effect on CRH action was also observed with TNF{alpha}. However, the magnitude of the long term effect was much weaker (~1.3-fold increase) than that of IL-1ß, and this may be the reason why the effect of TNF{alpha} on ACTH synthesis/secretion at the pituitary level has been missed in previous studies.

The effects of IFNs on ACTH synthesis and secretion remain controversial; IFN (either IFN{alpha} or IFN{gamma}) is shown to stimulate ACTH release in humans (38, 39, 40) but to inhibit it in rats in vitro (35, 41). The effects of IFNs on the POMC gene in corticotroph cells have not been previously reported. Our results showed that both IFN{alpha} and IFN{gamma} had acute weak stimulatory effects followed by potent inhibitory effects on POMC 5'-promoter activity, which is quite different from the effects of other cytokines studied in this report. As the POMC 5'-promoter sequence used here contains both an IFN-stimulated response element and an IFN{gamma} activation site (42), the acute positive effect is supposed to be caused via direct activation of transcription through the Janus kinase (JAK)/signal transducers and activators of transcription (STAT) pathway (42). The delayed inhibitory effect, on the other hand, may be caused indirectly by some other de novo protein(s) induced by IFNs. In any event, the effects of IFNs are unique among the cytokines tested, and further studies are necessary, especially from the physiological standpoint, to clarify why IFNs, which are known to be generated during viral infection, are acting negatively on POMC gene expression, at least at the pituitary level.

Our data showed that all cytokines except TNF{alpha} significantly stimulated ACTH release. The magnitude of the effect was largely proportional to that on POMC promoter activity, except for that of IFN (IFN{gamma}), in which ACTH release was increased despite inhibition of POMC expression. However, the IFNs had short term stimulatory effects on promoter activity and probably exerted acute ACTH release as well, in accordance with previous in vivo data (38, 39, 40). The lack of a positive effect of TNF{alpha} on ACTH secretion may simply be due to its weaker potency.

It is of interest that whereas the short term effects of IL-1ß, IL-6, and TNF{alpha} by themselves on POMC 5'-promoter activity were very subtle, they had hidden effects, such that they markedly potentiated the stimulatory effect of CRH on POMC expression, as had been reported for IL-1-induced ß-endorphin secretion (20) or in leukemia inhibitory factor-induced POMC expression (43). The data suggest that these cytokines somehow amplify the positive effect of CRH at some point(s) of their signal transduction pathways. With regard to this issue, Takao et al. (44, 45) recently showed that CRH up-regulates IL-1ß receptors both in vivo and in vitro (AtT20 cells). More recently, Pozzoli et al. showed that IL-1ß increases CRH receptor mRNA in vitro (AtT20 cells), suggesting the cooperative effect occurring at the receptor level (46). However, a previous report showing that IL-1ß did not enhance CRH-induced cAMP generation (20) and our finding that IL-1ß potentiated forskolin- or 8Br-cAMP-induced POMC gene expression suggest that the site of action of IL-1ß is at least in part distal to cAMP. As IL-1 was shown to induce early protein phosphorylation in AtT20 cells (47), there may be some positive cross-talk effects in the process of intracellular signaling pathways after the receptor level. This cross-talk may also be the case with IL-6 and TNF{alpha}, because similar enhancing effects with CRH were observed in these two cytokines. Thus, it may be possible that some cytokines have, in addition to direct long term effects, short term modulatory effects on hypothalamic factor-regulated POMC gene expression and form a dynamic positive cooperativeness between immune and endocrine systems at the molecular level within the pituitary gland.

Although the intracellular signaling pathways of cytokines have been under extensive investigation (4), signal transduction within the corticotroph cells largely remain to be clarified. Recently, Gwosdow et al. showed that IL-1{alpha} stimulates the protein kinase A pathway without increasing cAMP generation in AtT20 cells (48, 49), but the mechanism mediating the effect is not known. As most of the intracellular signaling pathways of various cytokines are mediated through phosphorylation cascades (4), it seems likely that the same mechanism is applicable to the corticotrophs. Our data, as expected, showed that the long term positive effects of IL-1ß, IL-6, and TNF{alpha} were completely or partially eliminated by pretreatment of cells with genistein, a broad spectrum inhibitor of protein tyrosine kinase and several other kinases (50, 51). Interestingly, however, whereas the effects of IL-6 and TNF{alpha} were completely abolished by genistein treatment, the effect of IL-1ß was only partially eliminated. Furthermore, the negative effects of IFN{alpha} and IFN{gamma} were genistein insensitive. Thus, it seems that the effect of each cytokine is mediated through independent intracellular signaling pathways, and further research is necessary to clarify this issue. In this sense, our in vitro experimental system may be a good model to examine the cellular and/or molecular mechanisms of cytokines on POMC gene expression in corticotroph cells.


    Acknowledgments
 
The authors thank Dr. N. Suzuki (St. Marianna University, Kawasaki, Japan) for helpful suggestions.


    Footnotes
 
Address all correspondence and requests for reprints to: Yasumasa Iwasaki, M.D., First Department of Internal Medicine, Nagoya University School of Medicine, 65 Tsurumai-cho, Showa-ku, Nagoya 466, Japan.

Received October 16, 1997.


    References
 Top
 Abstract
 Introduction
 Materials and Methods
 Results
 Discussion
 References
 

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