Characterization of the transduction pathway involved in c-fos and c-jun expression induced by Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans lipopolysaccharides in human gingival fibroblasts

Periodontal disease is an inflammatory disease caused by infection with oral bacteria that results in tooth exfoliation. Lipopolysaccharides (LPS) are a major component of the outer membrane of Gram-negative microorganisms and are involved in the inflammatory response. c-fos and c-jun are involved in pathological conditions such as inflammatory disorders. Inflammatory signaling cascades leading to c-fos activation in human gingival fibroblasts (HGFs) are not well characterized. Thus, we have investigated the kinase pathways involved in c-fos and c-jun activation induced by LPS in human gingival fibroblasts. LPS promoted a dose- and time-dependent increase in c-fos transcription. Phosphoinositide-phospholipase C inhibitor (U-73122), protein kinase A inhibitor (H89), MEK1 inhibitor (PD 98,059), p38 inhibitor (SB203580), and tyrosine kinase inhibitors (genistein and herbimycin) attenuated the LPS effect, while the PI-3 K inhibitor (Wortmannin) had no effect on LPS-induced c-fos transcription. Protein kinase C inhibitors (Ro 31-8220, calphostin C, staurosporine, and chelerythrine chloride) also inhibited LPS-induced c-fos transcription. However, long-term treatment (24 -h) with the PKC activator tetradecanoyl phorbol-13-acetate (PMA) had no significant effect on LPS-induced transcription in HGFs. We also found an increase in c-jun expression in HGF stimulated with LPS. In addition, experiments using pharmacological inhibitors of individual mitogen-activated protein kinases (MAPK) and of protein kinase C (PKC) revealed that p38, ERK 1/2, and PKC are involved in LPS-induced c-jun expression. Our results indicate that LPS-induced c-fos and c-jun expressions are mediated by two different signaling pathways: one through phosphoinositide-phospholipase C via an upstream protein tyrosine kinase, which activates PKC isoforms that are insensitive to phorbol stress, and the second through activation of protein kinase A (PKA). Both kinases regulate the phosphorylation of the extracellular signal-regulated kinase ERK 1/2 and p38.