Abstract:
Objective and design: Bacterial products as well as the host airway inflammatory responses contribute to the pathogenesis of Pseudomonas infections. We sought to determine if Pseudomonas elastase (PE) induces mitogen-activated protein (MAP) kinase activity in association with interleukin-8 (IL-8) production by alveolar epithelial cells.¶Methods: We utilized Western blot analysis to detect phosphorylation of signaling intermediates and ELISA was used to measure IL-8 production.¶Results: We found that PE induces phosphorylation of the extracellular signal-regulated (ERK1/2) proteins of the MAPK pathway in A549 epithelial cells. Similar results were obtained using primary cultures of rabbit alveolar type II epithelial cells. PE also enhanced IL-8 production, which was abolished in the presence of the ERK activation inhibitor U0126.¶Conclusions: We conclude that PE activates the ERK1/2 arm of the MAPK pathway and that activation of this pathway results in enhanced IL-8 production. The results demonstrate that PE may augment pulmonary inflammation via cellular signaling that regulates expression of IL-8.
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Received 4 March 2002; returned for revision 26 June 2002; accepted by G. Letts 28 June 2002
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Azghani, A., Baker, J., Shetty, S. et al. Pseudomonas aeruginosa elastase stimulates ERK signaling pathway and enhances IL- 8 production by alveolar epithelial cells in culture. Inflamm. res. 51, 506–510 (2002). https://doi.org/10.1007/PL00012420
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/PL00012420