Search

Signal transduction through the Mitogen Activated Protein Kinase (MAPK) pathways is evolutionarily highly conserved. Many cells use these pathways to interpret changes to their environment and respond accordingly. The pathways are central to triggering diverse cellular responses such as survival, apoptosis, differentiation and proliferation. Though the interactions between the different MAPK pathways are complex, nevertheless, they maintain a high level of fidelity and specificity to the original signal. There are numerous theories explaining how fidelity and specificity arise within this complex context; spatio-temporal regulation of the pathways and feedback loops are thought to be very important. This paper presents an agent based computational model addressing multi-compartmentalisation and how this influences the dynamics of MAPK cascade activation. The model suggests that multi-compartmentalisation coupled with periodic MAPK kinase (MAPKK) activation may be critical factors for the emergence of oscillation and ultrasensitivity in the system. Finally, the model also establishes a link between the spatial arrangements of the cascade components and temporal activation mechanisms, and how both contribute to fidelity and specificity of MAPK mediated signalling.

Tumor necrosis factor (TNF) is a powerful pro-inflammatory cytokine and immuno-regulatory molecule, and modulates susceptibility to musculoskeletal diseases. Several meta-analyses and replicated association studies have implicated the minor 'A' variant within the TNF promoter single nucleotide polymorphism (SNP) rs361525 (-238A/G) as a risk allele in joint related disorders, including psoriatic and juvenile idiopathic arthritis, and osteolysis after joint arthroplasty. Here we characterized the effect of this variant on TNF promoter function. A transcriptional reporter, encoding the -238A variant of the TNF promoter, resulted in 2.2 to 2.8 times greater transcriptional activation versus the 'G' variant in murine macrophages when stimulated with pro-inflammatory stimuli. Bioinformatic analysis predicted a putative binding site for thyroid hormone receptor (TR) for the -238A but not the -238G allele. Overexpression of TR-α induced promoter expression 1.8-fold in the presence of the 'A' allele only. TR-α expression both potentiated and sensitized the -238A response to LPS or a titanium particulate stimulus, whilst siRNA knockdown of either THRA or THRB impaired transcriptional activation for the -238A variant only. This effect was independent of receptor-ligand binding of triiodothyronine. Immunohistochemical analysis of osteolysis interface membranes from patients undergoing revision surgery confirmed expression of TR-α within osteoclast nuclei at the resorption surface. The 'A' allele at rs361525 confers increased transcriptional activation of the TNF promoter and influences susceptibility to several arthritic conditions. This effect is modulated, at least in part, by binding of TR, which both sensitizes and potentiates transcriptional activation of the 'A' variant independent of its endogenous ligand.

Signal transduction pathways activated by Toll-like Receptors and the IL-1 family of cytokines are fundamental to mounting an innate immune response and thus to clearing pathogens and promoting wound healing. Whilst mechanistic understanding of the regulation of innate signalling pathways has advanced considerably in recent years, there are still a number of critical controllers to be discovered. In order to characterise novel regulators of macrophage inflammation, we have carried out an extensive, cDNA-based forward genetic screen and identified 34 novel activators, based on their ability to induce the expression of cxcl2. Many are physiologically expressed in macrophages, although the majority of genes uncovered in our screen have not previously been linked to innate immunity. We show that expression of particular activators has profound but distinct impacts on LPS-induced inflammatory gene expression, including switch-type, amplifier and sensitiser behaviours. Furthermore, the novel genes identified here interact with the canonical inflammatory signalling network via specific mechanisms, as demonstrated by the use of dominant negative forms of IL1/TLR signalling mediators.