The interleukin-1 receptor associated kinase 1 contributes to the regulation of NFAT

IRAK-1 is a critical modulator regulating innate immunity signaling processes. However, the physiological substrates for IRAK-1 remain poorly defined. In this report, we have demonstrated that IRAK-1 is a kinase responsible for the constitutive phosphorylation and inactivation of the Nuclear Factor of Activated T-cell (NFAT). Expression of IRAK-1 suppressed NFAT reporter activity. Correspondingly, the levels of both nuclear NFATc1 and NFATc4 were constitutively elevated in IRAK-1−/− cells. Furthermore, the phosphorylation of NFATc4 at the S168PS170P site was significantly diminished in IRAK-1−/− cells. Mechanistically, we observed that IRAK-1 interacted with NFATc4 via the C-terminus of IRAK-1 and the N-terminal NHR region of NFATc4. IRAK-1 mutants that ablated either its kinase activity or its interaction with NFATc4 failed to suppress NFAT reporter activity. The expression level of COX2, which is under the control of NFAT, was elevated in IRAK-1−/− cells. Functionally, ApoE−/−/IRAK-1−/− mice were protected from high-fat-diet-induced hypertension and atherosclerosis. Taken together, our findings reveal NFAT molecules as novel physiological targets for IRAK-1.