Hypoxia reduces constitutive and TNF-α-induced expression of monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 in human proximal renal tubular cells

Chronic hypoxia has been reported to be associated with macrophage infiltration in progressive forms of kidney disease. Here, we investigated the regulatory effects of hypoxia on constitutive and TNF-α-stimulated expression of monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1) in cultured human proximal renal tubular cells (HPTECs). Hypoxia reduced constitutive MCP-1 expression at the mRNA and protein levels in a time-dependent fashion for up to 48 h. Hypoxia also inhibited MCP-1 up-regulation by TNF-α. Treatment with actinomycin D showed that hypoxic down-regulation of MCP-1 expression resulted mainly from a decrease in the transcription but not the mRNA stability. Immunoblot and immunofluorescence analyses revealed that treatment with hypoxia or an iron chelator, desferrioxamine, induced nuclear accumulation of hypoxia-inducible factor-1α (HIF-1α) in HPTECs. Desferrioxamine mimicked hypoxia in the reduction of MCP-1 expression. However, overexpression of a dominant negative form of HIF-1α did not abolish the hypoxia-induced reduction of MCP-1 expression in HPTECs. These results suggest that hypoxia is an important negative regulator of monocyte chemotaxis to the renal inflamed interstitium, by reducing MCP-1 expression partly via hypoxia-activated signals other than the HIF-1 pathway.