A downstream role for protein kinase Cα in the cytosolic phospholipase A2-dependent protective signalling mediated by peroxynitrite in U937 cells

Exposure to an otherwise non-toxic concentration of peroxynitrite (ONOO−) promotes toxicity in U937 cells supplemented with pharmacological inhibitors of protein kinase C (PKC). This effect is not associated with enhanced formation of H2O2 and is in fact causally linked to inhibition of the cytoprotective signalling driven by endogenous arachidonic acid (AA). The outcome of various approaches using PKC or phospholipase A2 inhibitors, cytosolic phospholipase A2 or PKCα antisense-oligonucleotide-transfected cells and supplementation with exogenous AA or tetradecanoylphorbol acetate, as well as PKC down-regulated cells, indicated that ONOO− promotes AA-dependent cytosol to membrane translocation of PKCα, an event critical for the cytoprotective signalling under investigation. Evidence for a similar mechanism regulating survival of human monocytes exposed to ONOO− is also presented. These results, along with our previous work on this topic, contribute to the definition of the mechanism whereby monocytes survive to ONOO− in inflamed tissues.