Atf3 negatively regulates Ptgs2/Cox2 expression during acute inflammation

Jason Hellmann, Yunan Tang, Michael J. Zhang, Tsonwin Hai, Aruni Bhatnagar, Sanjay Srivastava, Matthew Spite

Research output: Contribution to journalArticlepeer-review

58 Scopus citations

Abstract

By generating prostaglandins, cyclooxygenase-2 (Cox-2/Ptgs2) plays a critical role in regulating inflammatory responses. While several inflammatory stimuli have been shown to increase Ptgs2 expression, less is known about how the transcription of this gene is terminated. Here we show that stimulation of macrophages with yeast zymosan, a TLR2/6 and dectin-1 agonist, causes a transient increase in the expression of Ptgs2 accompanied by a simultaneous increase in the expression of the transcriptional repressor, activating transcription factor-3 (Atf3). The expression of Ptgs2 was significantly higher in resident peritoneal macrophages isolated from Atf3-/- mice than that from Atf3+/+ mice and was associated with higher prostaglandin production upon stimulation with zymosan. In activated macrophages, Atf3 accumulated in the nucleus and chromatin-immunoprecipitation analysis showed that Atf3 is recruited to the Ptgs2 promoter region. In acute peritonitis and in cutaneous wounds, there was increased leukocyte accumulation and higher levels of prostaglandins (PGE2/PGD2) in inflammatory exudates of Atf3-/- mice compared with WT mice. Collectively, these results demonstrate that during acute inflammation Atf3 negatively regulates Ptgs2 and therefore dysregulation of this axis could potentially contribute to aberrant Ptgs2 expression in chronic inflammatory diseases. Moreover, this axis could be a new therapeutic target for suppressing Ptgs2 expression and the resultant inflammatory responses.

Original languageEnglish (US)
Pages (from-to)49-56
Number of pages8
JournalProstaglandins and Other Lipid Mediators
Volume116-117
DOIs
StatePublished - 2015
Externally publishedYes

Bibliographical note

Publisher Copyright:
© 2015 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved.

Keywords

  • Inflammation
  • Lipid mediators
  • Prostaglandins

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