Curator/Reporter Aviral Vatsa PhD, MBBS
Based on: A review by (Wink et al., 2011)
This post is in continuation to Part 1 by the same title.
In part one I covered the basics of role of redox chemistry in immune reactions, the phagosome cauldron, and how bacteria bacteria, virus and parasites trigger the complex pathway of NO production and its downstream effects. While we move further in this post, the previous post can be accessed here.
REDOX REGULATION OF IMMUNE FUNCTION
Regulation of the redox immunomodulators—NO/RNS and ROS
In addition to eradicating pathogens, NO/RNS and ROS and their chemical interactions act as effective immunomodulators that regulate many cellular metabolic pathways and tissue repair and proinflammatory pathways. Figure 3 shows these pathways.
Figure 3. Schematic overview of interactive connections between NO and ROS-mediated metabolic pathways. Credit: (Wink et al., 2011)
Regulation of iNOS enzyme activity is critical to NO production. Factors such as the availability of arginine, BH4, NADPH, and superoxide affect iNOS activity and thus NO production. In the absence of arginine and BH4 iNOS becomes a O2_/H2O2 generator (Vásquez-Vivar et al., 1999). Hence metabolic pathways that control arginine and BH4 play a role in determining the NO/superoxide balance. Arginine levels in cells depend on various factors such as type of uptake mechanisms that determine its spatial presence in various compartments and enzymatic systems. As shown in Fig3 Arginine is the sole substrate for iNOS and arginase. Arginase is another key enzyme in immunemodulation. AG is also regulated by NOS and NOX activities. NOHA, a product of NOS, inhibits AG, and O2–increases AG activity. Importantly, high AG activity is associated with elevated ROS and low NO fluxes. NO antagonises NOX2 assembly that in turn leads to reduction in O2_ production. NO also inhibits COX2 activity thus reducing ROS production. Thus, as NO levels decline, oxidative mechanisms increase. Oxidative and nitrosative stress can also decrease intracellular GSH (reduced form) levels, resulting in a reduced antioxidant capability of the cell.
Immune-associated redox pathways regulate other important metabolic cell functions that have the potential for widespread impact on cells, organs, and organisms. These pathways, such as mediated via methionine and polyamines, are critical for DNA stabilization, cell proliferation, and membrane channel activity, all of which are also involved in immune-mediated repair processes.
NO levels dictate the immune signaling pathway
NO/RNS and ROS actively control innate and adaptive immune signaling by participating in induction, maintenance, and/or termination of proinflammatory and anti-inflammatory signaling. As in pathogen eradication, the temporal and spatial concentration profiles of NO are key factors in determining immune-mediated processes.
Brune and coworkers (Messmer et al., 1994) first demonstrated that p53 expression was associated with the concentrations of NO that led to apoptosis in macrophages. Subsequent studies linked NO concentration profiles with expression of other key signaling proteins such as HIF-1α and Akt-P (Ridnour et al., 2008; Thomas et al., 2008). Various levels of NO concentrations trigger different pathways and expectedly this concentration-dependent profile varies with distance from the NO source.NO is highly diffucible and this characteristic can result in 1000 fold reduction in concentration within one cell length distance travelled from the source of production. Time course studies have also shown alteration in effects of same levels of NO over time e.g. NO-mediated ERK-P levels initially increased rapidly on exposure to NO donors and then decreased with continued NO exposure (Thomas et al., 2004), however HIF-1α levels remained high as long as NO levels were elevated. Thus some of the important factors that play critical role in NO effects are: distance from source, NO concentrations, duration of exposure, bioavailability of NO, and production/absence of other redox molecules.
Figure and legend credits: (Wink et al., 2011)
Fig 4: The effect of steady-state flux of NO on signal transduction mechanisms.
This diagram represents the level of sustained NO that is required to activate specific pathways in tumor cells. Similar effects have been seen on endothelial cells. These data were generated by treating tumor or endothelial cells with the NO donor DETANO (NOC-18) for 24 h and then measuring the appropriate outcome measures (for example, p53 activation). Various concentrations of DETANO that correspond to cellular levels of NO are: 40–60 μM DETANO = 50 nM NO; 80–120 μM DETANO = 100 nM NO; 500 μM DETANO = 400 nM NO; and 1 mM DETANO = 1 μM NO. The diagram represents the effect of diffusion of NO with distance from the point source (an activated murine macrophage producing iNOS) in vitro (Petri dish) generating 1 μM NO or more. Thus, reactants or cells located at a specific distance from the point source (i.e., iNOS, represented by star) would be exposed to a level of NO that governs a specific subset of physiological or pathophysiological reactions. The x-axis represents the different zone of NO-mediated events that is experienced at a specific distance from a source iNOS producing >1 μM. Note: Akt activation is regulated by NO at two different sites and by two different concentration levels of NO.
Species-specific NO production
The relationship of NO and immunoregulation has been established on the basis of studies on tumor cell lines or rodent macrophages, which are readily available sources of NO. However in humans the levels of protein expression for NOS enzymes and the immune induction required for such levels of expression are quite different than in rodents (Weinberg, 1998). This difference is most likely due to the human iNOS promotor rather than the activity of iNOS itself. There is a significant mismatch between the promoters of humans and rodents and that is likely to account for the notable differences in the regulation of gene induction between them. The combined data on rodent versus human NO and O2– production strongly suggest that in general, ROS production is a predominant feature of activated human macrophages, neutrophils, and monocytes, and the equivalent murine immune cells generate a combination of O2– and NO and in some cases, favor NO production. These differences may be crucial to understanding how immune responses are regulated in a species-specific manner. This is particularly useful, as pathogen challenges change constantly.
The next post in this series will cover the following topics:
The impact of NO signaling on an innate immune response—classical activation
NO and proinflammatory genes
NO and regulation of anti-inflammatory pathways
NO impact on adaptive immunity—immunosuppression and tissue-restoration response
NO and revascularization
Acute versus chronic inflammatory disease
Bibliography
Further reading on NO:
Nitric Oxide in bone metabolism July 16, 2012
Author: Aviral Vatsa PhD, MBBS
Nitric Oxide production in Systemic sclerosis July 25, 2012
Curator: Aviral Vatsa, PhD, MBBS
Nitric Oxide Signalling Pathways August 22, 2012 by
Curator/ Author: Aviral Vatsa, PhD, MBBS
Nitric Oxide: a short historic perspective August 5, 2012
Author/Curator: Aviral Vatsa PhD, MBBS
http://pharmaceuticalintelligence.com/2012/08/05/nitric-oxide-a-short-historic-perspective-7/
Nitric Oxide: Chemistry and function August 10, 2012
Curator/Author: Aviral Vatsa PhD, MBBS
Nitric Oxide and Platelet Aggregation August 16, 2012 by
Author: Dr. Venkat S. Karra, Ph.D.
The rationale and use of inhaled NO in Pulmonary Artery Hypertension and Right Sided Heart Failure August 20, 2012
Author: Larry Bernstein, MD
Nitric Oxide: The Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine 1998 Robert F. Furchgott, Louis J. Ignarro, Ferid Murad August 16, 2012
Reporter: Aviva Lev-Ari, PhD, RN
Coronary Artery Disease – Medical Devices Solutions: From First-In-Man Stent Implantation, via Medical Ethical Dilemmas to Drug Eluting Stents August 13, 2012
Author: Aviva Lev-Ari, PhD, RN
Nano-particles as Synthetic Platelets to Stop Internal Bleeding Resulting from Trauma
August 22, 2012
Reported by: Dr. V. S. Karra, Ph.D.
Cardiovascular Disease (CVD) and the Role of agent alternatives in endothelial Nitric Oxide Synthase (eNOS) Activation and Nitric Oxide Production July 19, 2012
Curator and Research Study Originator: Aviva Lev-Ari, PhD, RN
Macrovascular Disease – Therapeutic Potential of cEPCs: Reduction Methods for CV Risk
July 2, 2012
An Investigation of the Potential of circulating Endothelial Progenitor Cells (cEPCs) as a Therapeutic Target for Pharmacological Therapy Design for Cardiovascular Risk Reduction: A New Multimarker Biomarker Discovery
Curator: Aviva Lev-Ari, PhD, RN
Bone remodelling in a nutshell June 22, 2012
Author: Aviral Vatsa, Ph.D., MBBS
http://pharmaceuticalintelligence.com/2012/06/22/bone-remodelling-in-a-nutshell/
Targeted delivery of therapeutics to bone and connective tissues: current status and challenges- Part, September
Author: Aviral Vatsa, PhD, September 23, 2012
Calcium dependent NOS induction by sex hormones: Estrogen
Curator: S. Saha, PhD, October 3, 2012
http://pharmaceuticalintelligence.com/2012/10/03/calcium-dependent-nos-induction-by-sex-hormones/
Nitric Oxide and Platelet Aggregation,
Author V. Karra, PhD, August 16, 2012
http://pharmaceuticalintelligence.com/2012/08/16/no-and-platelet-aggregation/
Curator: Aviva Lev-Ari, PhD, July 16, 2012
http://pharmaceuticalintelligence.com/?s=Nebivolol
Endothelin Receptors in Cardiovascular Diseases: The Role of eNOS Stimulation
Author: Aviva Lev-Ari, PhD, 10/4/2012
Inhibition of ET-1, ETA and ETA-ETB, Induction of NO production, stimulation of eNOS and Treatment Regime with PPAR-gamma agonists (TZD): cEPCs Endogenous Augmentation for Cardiovascular Risk Reduction – A Bibliography
Curator: Aviva Lev-Ari, 10/4/2012.
Nitric Oxide Nutritional remedies for hypertension and atherosclerosis. It’s 12 am: do you know where your electrons are?
Author and Reporter: Meg Baker, 10/7/2012.