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Department of Metabolic Diseases (H.W., T.Y., J.K., S.K., Y.I., Y.H., S.U., A.T., S.T., T.K.), Graduate School of Medicine, University of Tokyo, Tokyo 113-8655, Japan; and Core Research for Evolutional Science and Technology (CREST) of Japan Science and Technology Corporation (JST) (H.W., T.Y., T.K.), Kawaguchi 332-0012, Japan
Address all correspondence and requests for reprints to: Takashi Kadowaki, Department of Metabolic Diseases, Graduate School of Medicine, University of Tokyo, 7-3-1 Hongo, Bunkyo, Tokyo 113-8655. E-mail: kadowaki-3im{at}h.u-tokyo.ac.jp.
| Abstract |
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| Introduction |
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Adiponectin consists of a carboxyl-terminal globular domain and an amino-terminal collagen-like domain containing 22 Gly-X-Y repeats (1, 2, 3, 4). The presence of a small amount of a carboxyl-terminal fragment containing the globular domain of adiponectin has been demonstrated in human serum by immunoprecipitation (14). Many studies have shown that full-length adiponectin and the globular domain have distinct biological properties (9, 10, 14, 15). However, it is still unclear how the globular fragment of adiponectin is generated in vivo.
In this study, we show evidence that adiponectin is cleaved into carboxyl-terminal fragments containing the globular domain by leukocyte elastase secreted from the monocytic cell lines THP-1 and U937. These results indicate that adiponectin cleavage by leukocyte elastase could be a candidate for the mechanism of the generation of the globular fragment of adiponectin in plasma.
| Materials and Methods |
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Cell cultures
THP-1 and U937 monocytic cells were maintained at a cell density of 18 x 105/ml in RPMI 1640 medium supplemented with 10% fetal bovine serum, 100 U/ml penicillin, and 100 µg/ml streptomycin. For differentiation, the cells were plated at a density of 2 x 105/cm2 in RPMI 1640 with 10% fetal bovine serum containing 100 ng/ml PMA for 3 d. Differentiated THP-1 cells adhered to the bottom of the well and extended pseudopods.
Adiponectin cleavage by conditioned medium of THP-1
THP-1 cells were washed with PBS three times and plated in 24-well plates at a density of 2 x 105/cm2 in serum-free RPMI 1640 medium containing 100 ng/ml PMA. After overnight incubation, the medium was collected and centrifuged at 1500 rpm for 10 min at 4 C, and the supernatant was used as the conditioned medium. Tris-HCl (1 M, pH 7.4) was added to the medium to a final concentration of 10 mM, and sodium azide was added to a final concentration of 0.02% (wt/vol). Microcon YM-10 was used to concentrate the conditioned medium into approximately one fifth the volume. Purified murine full-length adiponectin expressed in Escherichia coli was generated as described previously (9, 16), added to the conditioned medium to a concentration of 1.0 µg/ml, and incubated at 37 C for the indicated time. The reaction was stopped by the addition of SDS-PAGE sample buffer. Adiponectin cleavage was monitored by Western blotting as described in SDS-PAGE and Western blotting.
SDS-PAGE and Western blotting
Samples were diluted in Laemmlis SDS-PAGE sample buffer (final 3% sodium dodecyl sulfate; 50 mM Tris-HCl, pH 6.8; 5% 2-mercaptoethanol; and 10% glycerol) and boiled at 95 C for 5 min. Proteins were separated by SDS-PAGE and transferred to nitrocellulose membranes. The membranes were blocked with Tris-buffered saline and 0.1% Triton X-100 containing 3% skim milk and then incubated for 1 h at room temperature with 1:1000 diluted antiadiponectin globular domain antiserum (17) in Tris-buffered saline and 0.1% Triton X-100 containing 3% skim milk. In some experiments, anti-carboxyl-terminal and anti-amino-terminal peptide antibodies (17) were used. After washing the membranes, they were incubated with horseradish peroxidase-conjugated antirabbit antibody (1:4000) for 30 min at room temperature and then washed thoroughly. X-ray film (Fujifilm; Minamiashigara, Japan) was exposed to the membranes by using ECL Western blotting detection reagent (Amersham Biosciences, Piscataway, NJ).
Effect of heat denaturation and protease inhibitors on adiponectin-cleaving activity by THP-1 cell-conditioned medium
For heat denaturation, the conditioned medium was boiled at 95 C for 15 min, and after centrifugation, the supernatant was used. Protease inhibitors were added to the earlier described reaction at the following concentration: EDTA, 5 mM; phenylmethylsulfonylfluoride (PMSF) 2+, 1 mM; PMSF+, 0.1 mM; antipain, 50 µg/ml; bestatin, 40 µg/ml; chymostatin, 10 µg/ml; E64, 1 µg/ml; leupeptin, 0.5 µg/ml; pepstatin, 0.7 µg/ml; phosphoramidon, 300 µg/ml; Pefabloc SC (Roche Diagnostics), 100 µg/ml; aprotinin, 1 µg/ml; and MeOSuc-AAPV-CMK, 1 mM.
Adiponectin cleavage by purified leukocyte elastase and amino-terminal sequencing of the cleaved products
Adiponectin (0.4 µg) and leukocyte elastase (0.048 U) were added to 200 µl of reaction buffer (0.2 M triethanolamine-HCl, pH 8.0; 1.0 M NaCl; 0.02% NaN3; and 0.1% PEG6000). After incubation for the time indicated, aliquots were collected, and the reaction solutions were subjected to trichloroacetate precipitation to remove the NaCl in the samples. Precipitated adiponectin was dissolved in the SDS-PAGE sample buffer and analyzed by Western blotting as described earlier. For amino-terminal sequencing, the sample was transferred to a Sequiblot PVDF membrane (Bio-Rad, Hercules, CA) after SDS-PAGE resolution. The band was visualized by Coomassie Brilliant Blue R-250 (Bio-Rad) staining, excised, and subjected to Edman degradation N-terminal analysis.
| Results |
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To determine whether leukocyte elastase cleaves adiponectin, we allowed adiponectin to react with purified leukocyte elastase. As expected, the leukocyte elastase cleaved adiponectin (Fig. 4
). The cleavage pattern produced by purified leukocyte elastase was exactly the same as that produced by THP-1-conditioned medium (compare Fig. 4
with Fig. 3
). The leukocyte elastase-specific peptide inhibitor MeOSuc-AAPV-CMK completely blocked the cleavage of adiponectin by leukocyte elastase (Fig. 4
). We then examined whether MeOSuc-AAPV-CMK inhibits the cleavage of adiponectin by the conditioned medium of THP-1. As shown in Fig. 5
, adiponectin cleavage by THP-1-conditioned medium was completely blocked by MeOSuc-AAPV-CMK, suggesting that the adiponectin-cleaving activity of THP-1-conditioned medium is attributable to leukocyte elastase.
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Amino-terminal sequencing of leukocyte elastase-cleaved adiponectin
To identify the sites of cleavage of adiponectin by leukocyte elastase, we performed Edman amino-terminal sequencing of the three major proteolytic bands, with molecular masses of 25, 20, and 18 kDa (Fig. 4
). The 25-kDa band was a three-protein mixture that had amino termini at positions 39 (39CAGWM), 41 (41GWMAG), and 45 (45GIPGH) (Table 1
, Fig. 6
). The sequence of 92EGPRG was detected in the 20-kDa band, and 111AYMYR was detected in the 18-kDa band (Table 1
, Fig. 6
). These findings suggest that the cleavage occurred in the amino-terminal collagenous domain, and smaller fragments containing the globular domain were generated.
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| Discussion |
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Both conditioned medium of THP-1 and purified leukocyte elastase cleave adiponectin into several fragments containing the globular domain (Figs. 3
and 4
). Although we cannot completely exclude the possibility that protease(s) other than leukocyte elastase cleaves adiponectin in conditioned medium of THP-1, we think that major fragments are produced by leukocyte elastase. This is because the cleavage patterns by THP-1 and leukocyte elastase are identical including minor bands (compare Figs. 3
and 4
), and the generation of all fragments by THP-1 are inhibited by the same series of serine protease inhibitors, including leukocyte elastase-specific MeOSuc-AAPV-CMK. The fact that the 25-kDa band in the experiments in Fig. 2B
was relatively resistant to various protease inhibitors raises the possibility that protease responsible for generation of the 25-kDa band and the protease responsible for the 20- and 18-kDa bands may not be the same. We think, however, that this is unlikely because the 25-kDa band seems to be the initial product (Figs. 4
and 1C
) and, therefore, tends to remain when the efficiency of protease inhibitor is partial. In fact, protease inhibitors that blocked the production of the 20- and 18-kDa bands also inhibited the initial production of 25 kDa in a shorter incubation (6 h; Fig. 2B
). The leukocyte elastase-specific inhibitor MeOSuc-AAPV-CMK showed complete inhibition of all the fragments seen in the THP-1 experiment (Fig. 5
). These data support our notion that at least all three major products are generated by leukocyte elastase.
Adiponectin has been found to colocalize with macrophages in atherosclerotic lesion (12) and in injured arteries (23). Leukocyte elastase is also present in atheromatous plaques and is thought to play a role in the adaptive remodeling of vessels and in the pathogenesis of arterial diseases (24). The antiinflammatory effect of adiponectin on monocytes/macrophages is thought to be important in the atheroprotective properties of adiponectin in vivo. Adiponectin is known to inhibit phagocytotic activity and lipopolysaccharide-induced TNF-
production in macrophage (25). Adiponectin also reduces cholesterol ester accumulation through suppression of the expression of macrophage scavenger receptor, class A (SR-A) and subsequent reduction of binding and uptake of SR-A ligand in macrophage (26).
The result that leukocyte elastase secreted from THP-1 cleaves adiponectin raises the possibility that adiponectin in atherosclerotic lesion might be cleaved into globular fragment and the activity of adiponectin is modulated through the cleavage. From this point of view, we examined whether the globular domain has different effects on macrophage from those of full-length adiponectin. Our preliminary experiments, however, showed that the globular domain had similar effects on macrophage as compared with full-length adiponectin as far as we examined the suppression of SR-A and lipopolysaccharide-induced TNF-
expression in macrophage (our unpublished data).
Pajvani et al. (22) previously reported that adiponectin is cleaved by HEK 293-T cells and primary hepatocytes in vitro. We did not detect adiponectin cleavage by hepatocyte cell line Fao. This difference might be due to the difference between primary cells and cell lines. Although the responsible protease and the physiological relevance of adiponectin cleavage by these cells have not been determined, the cleavage by hepatocytes is noteworthy because the liver is one of the major target organs of adiponectin.
It is an unanswered question whether the globular proteolytic fragment reported in human plasma (8, 9, 14) has the same amino-terminal cleavage site as the fragments produced by leukocyte elastase. Identification of the cleavage site of the globular fragment in human serum is under investigation in our laboratory. To directly test the hypothesis that leukocyte elastase is responsible for the generation of the globular fragment in plasma, it would be worthwhile to examine whether the globular fragment is observed in plasma of leukocyte elastase-deficient mice (27).
Monocytes/macrophages, neutrophils, and leukocyte elastase are activated and exert their biological functions in restricted areas of inflammation. Although the amount of globular fragment of adiponectin in plasma is considerably low, it is reasonable to speculate that cleavage of adiponectin takes place locally and the cleaved product is abundant in such regions. Several lines of evidence that adiponectin accumulates locally in inflammatory lesion have been reported. Adiponectin has been detected in the walls of the catheter-injured arteries (23) and colocalizes with macrophages in injured human aorta (26). Adiponectin also localizes in the interstitial spaces in carbon tetrachloride-injured liver (28) and is distributed in the interstitium in myocardial infarct lesions (29). It would be interesting to determine whether the adiponectin that accumulates is cleaved or intact.
Leukocyte elastase (also know as neutrophil elastase) is abundant in the primary granules of neutrophils and has been shown to be involved in acute inflammatory responses, such as acute host defense against microorganisms (27), arthritis (30), and endotoxin shock (31). We observed that adiponectin is efficiently cleaved also by activated neutrophils (results not shown). Considering that adiponectin has antiinflammatory effects on many type of cells (32, 33, 34), it is also possible that adiponectin has similar biological effects on neutrophils and the effect is modulated by the cleavage of adiponectin by leukocyte elastase.
In conclusion, we have demonstrated that adiponectin is cleaved by monocytic cell lines THP-1 and U937 and that leukocyte elastase is responsible for the cleavage of adiponectin. Although the pathophysiological importance of adiponectin cleavage by leukocyte elastase in vivo remains to be determined, our data indicate that adiponectin can be cleaved by leukocyte elastase secreted from activated monocytes and/or neutrophils and that this cleavage could be a candidate for the mechanism of the generation of the globular fragment of adiponectin in plasma.
| Acknowledgments |
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| Footnotes |
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First Published Online November 4, 2004
Abbreviations: PMA, Phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate; PMSF, phenylmethyl sulfonylfluoride; SR-A, macrophage scavenger receptor, class A.
Received August 20, 2004.
Accepted for publication October 28, 2004.
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