Now showing 1 - 10 of 18
  • Publication
    Crosstalk between toll-like receptors and hypoxia-dependent pathways in health and disease
    Toll-like receptors (TLRs) play an important role in shaping the host immune response to infection and inflammation. Tissue hypoxia is a common microenvironmental feature of infected and inflamed tissues. Furthermore, hypoxia significantly impacts the development of immune and inflammatory responses through the regulation of host innate and adaptive immunity. Here, we will discuss current knowledge in relation to the crosstalk that exists between toll-like receptor- and hypoxia-dependent signaling pathways in health and disease.
    Scopus© Citations 5  279
  • Publication
    Regulation of gene expression by carbon dioxide
    (Wiley Blackwell (Blackwell Publishing -The Physiological Society), 2011-01-04) ;
    Carbon dioxide (CO2) is a physiological gas found at low levels in the atmosphere and produced in cells during the process of aerobic respiration. Consequently, the levels of CO2 within tissues are usually significantly higher than those found externally. Shifts in tissue levels of CO2 (leading to either hypercapnia or hypocapnia) are associated with a number of pathophysiological conditions in humans and can occur naturally in niche habitats such as those of burrowing animals. Clinical studies have indicated that such altered CO2 levels can impact upon disease progression. Recent advances in our understanding of the biology of CO2 has shown that like other physiological gases such as molecular oxygen (O2) and nitric oxide (NO), CO2 levels can be sensed by cells resulting in the initiation of physiological and pathophysiological responses. Acute CO2 sensing in neurons and peripheral and central chemoreceptors is important in rapidly activated responses including olfactory signalling, taste sensation and cardiorespiratory control. Furthermore, a role for CO2 in the regulation of gene transcription has recently been identified with exposure of cells and model organisms to high CO2 leading to suppression of genes involved in the regulation of innate immunity and inflammation. This latter, transcriptional regulatory role for CO2, has been largely attributed to altered activity of the NF-κB family of transcription factors. Here, we review our evolving understanding of how CO2 impacts upon gene transcription.
      365Scopus© Citations 34
  • Publication
    Hydroxylase inhibition reduces synaptic transmission and protects against a glutamate-induced ischemia in the CA1 region of the rat hippocampus
    The discovery of hydroxylases as oxygen sensors and key regulators of hypoxia-induced gene expression has made them a novel target for manipulating the transcriptional response to hypoxia for therapeutic benefit. In this study we have investigated the effect of prolyl hydroxylase inhibition on synaptic activity in hippocampal slices and compared this to the changes occurring following exposure to hypoxia. Furthermore, we investigated a potentially protective role for hydroxylase inhibition against a glutamate-induced ischemic insult in the CA1 region of organotypic hippocampal cultures. Application of the hydroxylase inhibitor, dimethyloxallyl glycine (DMOG), depressed synaptic transmission. Both hypoxia and DMOG induced a reversible reduction in synaptic transmission, enhanced paired pulse facilitation (P<0.05) and inhibited N-methyl d-aspartate receptor (NMDAR) activity (P<0.01). However the effects of DMOG were adenosine A1 receptor independent. Our results also suggest a potential therapeutic application for prolyl 4-hydroxylase (PHD) inhibitors in cerebral ischemia, since DMOG protected the CA1 region in organotypic hippocampal slices against a glutamate-induced ischemic insult.
    Scopus© Citations 21  859
  • Publication
    Understanding complexity in the HIF signaling pathway using systems biology and mathematical modeling
    Hypoxia is a common micro-environmental stress which is experienced by cells during a range of physiologic and pathophysiologic processes. The identification of the hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF) as the master regulator of the transcriptional response to hypoxia transformed our understanding of the mechanism underpinning the hypoxic response at the molecular level and identified HIF as a potentially important new therapeutic target. It has recently become clear that multiple levels of regulatory control exert influence on the HIF pathway giving the response a complex and dynamic activity profile. These include positive and negative feedback loops within the HIF pathway as well as multiple levels of crosstalk with other signaling pathways. The emerging model reflects a multi-level regulatory network that affects multiple aspects of the physiologic response to hypoxia including proliferation, apoptosis, and differentiation. Understanding the interplay between the molecular mechanisms involved in the dynamic regulation of the HIF pathway at a systems level is critically important in defining new appropriate therapeutic targets for human diseases including ischemia, cancer, and chronic inflammation. Here, we review our current knowledge of the regulatory circuits which exert influence over the HIF response and give examples of in silico model-based predictions of the dynamic behaviour of this system.
    Scopus© Citations 18  437
  • Publication
    Hydroxylase-dependent regulation of the NF-κB pathway
    (Walter de Gruyter GmbH, 2013-01-01) ;
    Hypoxia is associated with a diverse range of physiological and pathophysiological processes, including development, wound healing, inflammation, vascular disease and cancer. The requirement that eukaryotic cells have for molecular oxygen as the terminal electron acceptor for the electron transport chain means that the maintenance of oxygen delivery is key for bioenergetic homeostasis. Metazoans have evolved an effective way to adapt to hypoxic stress at the molecular level through a transcription factor termed the hypoxia inducible factor. A family of oxygen-sensing hydroxylases utilizes molecular oxygen as a co-substrate for the hydroxylation of hypoxia inducible factor α subunits, thereby reducing its expression and transcriptional activity when oxygen is available. Recent studies have indicated that other hypoxia-responsive transcriptional pathways may also be hydroxylase-dependent. In this review, we will discuss the role of hydroxylases in the regulation of NF-κB, a key regulator of immunity and inflammation. Developing our understanding of the role of hydroxylases in hypoxic inflammation may identify novel therapeutic approaches in chronic inflammatory disease.
    Scopus© Citations 36  492
  • Publication
    Hypoxia-dependent regulation of inflammatory pathways in immune cells
    (American Society for Clinical Investigation, 2016-07-25) ; ; ;
    Uncontrolled inflammation underpins a diverse range of diseases where effective therapy remains an unmet clinical need. Hypoxia is a prominent feature of the inflammatory microenvironment that regulates key transcription factors including HIF and NF-κB in both innate and adaptive immune cells. In turn, altered activity of the pathways controlled by these factors can affect the course of inflammation through the regulation of immune cell development and function. In this review, we will discuss these pathways and the oxygen sensors that confer hypoxic sensitivity in immune cells. Furthermore, we will describe how hypoxia-dependent pathways contribute to immunity and discuss their potential as therapeutic targets in inflammatory and infectious disease.
      441Scopus© Citations 147
  • Publication
    Substrate-Trapped Interactors of PHD3 and FIH Cluster in Distinct Signaling Pathways
    Amino acid hydroxylation is a post-translational modification that regulates intra- and inter-molecular protein-protein interactions. The modifications are regulated by a family of 2-oxoglutarate- (2OG) dependent enzymes and, although the biochemistry is well understood, until now only a few substrates have been described for these enzymes. Using quantitative interaction proteomics, we screened for substrates of the proline hydroxylase PHD3 and the asparagine hydroxylase FIH, which regulate the HIF-mediated hypoxic response. We were able to identify hundreds of potential substrates. Enrichment analysis revealed that the potential substrates of both hydroxylases cluster in the same pathways but frequently modify different nodes of signaling networks. We confirm that two proteins identified in our screen, MAPK6 (Erk3) and RIPK4, are indeed hydroxylated in a FIH- or PHD3-dependent mechanism. We further determined that FIH-dependent hydroxylation regulates RIPK4-dependent Wnt signaling, and that PHD3-dependent hydroxylation of MAPK6 protects the protein from proteasomal degradation.
    Scopus© Citations 67  287
  • Publication
    Basic fibroblast growth factor modifies the hypoxic response of human bone marrow stromal cells by ERK-mediated enhancement of HIF-1α activity
    Human bone marrow stromal cells (hBMSCs, also known as bone marrow-derived mesenchymal stem cells) are promising tools for the cellular therapy of human pathologies related to various forms of hypoxia. Although the current concepts of their clinical use include the expansion of hBMSC in standard cell culture conditions, the effect of the mitogen-driven ex vivo expansion on the adaptation to the hypoxic environment is unknown. Here, we provide data that the basic fibroblast growth factor (FGF2) enhances the induction of a wide range of hypoxia-related adaptive genes in hypoxic hBMSCs. We identified that the FGF2 signal is transmitted by the ERK pathway similar to that of hypoxia that also utilises the distal elements of the same signalling machinery including the extracellular signal-regulated kinase 1/2 (ERK1/2) and mitogen-activated protein kinase kinases (MEK1/2) in hBMSCs. We found that the simultaneous activation of ERK1/2 by FGF2 and hypoxia transforms the activation dynamics from oscillatory into sustained one. Activated ERKs co-localise with stabilised hypoxia inducible factor-1α (HIF-1α) followed by the reduction of its nuclear mobility as well as increased DNA binding capacity leading to the up-regulation of hypoxia-adaptive genes. Our findings indicate that the status of the ERK pathway has significant impacts on the molecular adaptation of hBMSCs to the hypoxic milieu.
    Scopus© Citations 16  254
  • Publication
    Monitoring of cell oxygenation and responses to metabolic stimulation by intracellular oxygen sensing technique
    Quenched-phosphorescence oxygen (O2) sensing technique allows non-invasive, real-time monitoring of both intra- and extracellular O2 concentration in respiring samples. Using this technique we investigated O2 gradients in populations of neurosecretory PC12 cells cultured in 96-well plates and exposed to graded hypoxia at rest and upon metabolic stimulation. Under high atmospheric O2 (10–21%) the respiration of resting cells dictated that local O2 was moderately reduced, and at a certain threshold (6% in galactose medium) cell layer became practically anoxic. Furthermore, cell stimulation triggered a major redistribution of O2 and a prominent ‘hypoxic overshoot’ mediated by diffusion. The deep, prolonged cell deoxygenation upon stimulation was matched by an increase in nuclear HIF-1α levels. In the presence of nitric oxide the hypoxic overshoot was truncated and HIF-1α stabilization inhibited. Thus, the main determinants which impact upon cellular O2 levels and oxygen-sensitive signaling pathways are the atmospheric O2, sample geometry, cell density, respiration rate and its dynamics. Changes in any of these parameters can significantly alter the O2 levels experienced by the cells and the subsequently activated signaling pathways. This technique, which provides simple and reliable monitoring of cell oxygenation, is therefore important for hypoxia research, metabolic studies and experiments with respiring cells.
      675Scopus© Citations 55
  • Publication
    FIH Regulates Cellular Metabolism through Hydroxylation of the Deubiquitinase OTUB1
    The asparagine hydroxylase, factor inhibiting HIF (FIH), confers oxygen-dependence upon the hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF), a master regulator of the cellular adaptive response to hypoxia. Studies investigating whether asparagine hydroxylation is a general regulatory oxygen-dependent modification have identified multiple non-HIF targets for FIH. However, the functional consequences of this outside of the HIF pathway remain unclear. Here, we demonstrate that the deubiquitinase ovarian tumor domain containing ubiquitin aldehyde binding protein 1 (OTUB1) is a substrate for hydroxylation by FIH on N22. Mutation of N22 leads to a profound change in the interaction of OTUB1 with proteins important in cellular metabolism. Furthermore, in cultured cells, overexpression of N22A mutant OTUB1 impairs cellular metabolic processes when compared to wild type. Based on these data, we hypothesize that OTUB1 is a target for functional hydroxylation by FIH. Additionally, we propose that our results provide new insight into the regulation of cellular energy metabolism during hypoxic stress and the potential for targeting hydroxylases for therapeutic benefit.
    Scopus© Citations 73  290