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Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, November 1999, p. 2678-2684, Vol. 43, No. 11
Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care
Medicine, Stanford University Medical Center, Stanford, California
94305
Received 9 April 1999/Returned for modification 10 June
1999/Accepted 20 August 1999
The molecular mechanism of the anti-inflammatory effect of
erythromycin (EM) was investigated at the level of transcriptional regulation of cytokine gene expression in T cells. EM
(>10
0066-4804/99/$04.00+0
Copyright © 1999, American Society for Microbiology. All rights reserved.
Erythromycin Inhibits Transcriptional Activation of
NF-
B, but not NFAT, through Calcineurin-Independent Signaling in
T Cells
6 M) significantly inhibited interleukin-8 (IL-8)
expression but not IL-2 expression from T cells induced with 20 ng of
phorbol 12-myristate 13-acetate (PMA) per ml plus 2 µM calcium
ionophore (P-I). In electrophoretic mobility shift assays EM at
10
7 to 10
5 M concentrations inhibited
nuclear factor kappa B (NF-
B) DNA-binding activities induced by P-I.
Reporter gene assays also showed that EM (10
5 M)
inhibited IL-8 NF-
B transcription by 37%. The inhibitory effects of
EM on transcriptional activation of IL-2 and DNA-binding activity of
nuclear factor of activated T cells (NFAT) were not seen in T cells. On
the other hand, FK506, which is also a macrolide derivative, inhibited
transcriptional activation of both NF-
B and NFAT more strongly than
EM did. The mechanism of EM inhibition of transactivation of NF-
B
was further investigated in transiently transfected T cells that
express calcineurin A and B subunits. Expression of calcineurin did not
render transactivation of NF-
B in T cells more resistant to EM,
while the inhibitory effect of FK506 on transactivation of NF-
B was
attenuated. These findings indicate that EM is capable of inhibiting
expression of the IL-8 gene in T cells through transcriptional
inhibition and that this inhibition is mediated through a
non-calcineurin-dependent signaling event in T lymphocytes.
*
Corresponding author. Present address: Pulmonary
Division, Department of Medicine, Saga Medical School, 5-1-1 Nabeshima,
Saga 849-8501, Japan. Phone: 81-952-34-2372. Fax: 81-952-34-2017. E-mail: aokiy3{at}smsnet.saga-med.ac.jp.
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