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Inflammation is associated with skeletal muscle dysfunction and atrophy in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD). Theophylline has an anti-inflammatory role in COPD. However, the effects of theophylline on inflammation in skeletal muscle in COPD have rarely been reported. The aims of this study were to explore whether theophylline has an anti-inflammatory effect on skeletal muscle in a mouse model of emphysema and to investigate the molecular mechanism underlying this effect. In mice, cigarette smoke (CS) exposure for 28 wk resulted in atrophy of the gastrocnemius muscle. Histone deacetylase 2 (HDAC2) and nuclear factor-κBp65 (NF-κBp65) mRNA and protein levels were significantly decreased and increased, respectively, in gastrocnemius muscle. This effect was revered by aminophylline. The exposure of murine skeletal muscle C2C12 cells to CS extract (CSE) significantly increased IL-8 and TNF-α levels as well as NF-κBp65 mRNA and protein levels and NF-κBp65 activity. This effect was reversed by theophylline. HDAC2 knockdown enhanced the activity of NF-κBp65 and increased IL-8 and TNF-α levels in C2C12 cells. CSE significantly increased the interaction of HDAC2 with NF-κBp65 in C2C12 cells. These data suggest that theophylline has an anti-inflammatory effect on skeletal muscle in a mouse model of emphysema by upregulating HDAC2 expression and decreasing NF-κBp65 activation.

Adenine overload promotes intratubular crystal precipitation and interstitial nephritis. We showed recently that these abnormalities are strongly attenuated in mice knockout for Toll-like receptors-2, -4, MyD88, ASC, or caspase-1. We now investigated whether NF-κB activation also plays a pathogenic role in this model. Adult male Munich-Wistar rats were distributed among three groups: C ( n = 17), receiving standard chow; ADE ( n = 17), given adenine in the chow at 0.7% for 1 wk and 0.5% for 2 wk; and ADE + pyrrolidine dithiocarbamate (PDTC; n = 14), receiving adenine as above and the NF-κB inhibitor PDTC (120 mg·kg−1·day−1 in the drinking water). After 3 wk, widespread crystal deposition was seen in tubular lumina and in the renal interstitium, along with granuloma formation, collagen accumulation, intense tubulointerstitial proliferation, and increased interstitial expression of inflammatory mediators. Part of the crystals were segregated from tubular lumina by a newly formed cell layer and, at more advanced stages, appeared to be extruded to the interstitium. p65 nuclear translocation and IKK-α increased abundance indicated activation of the NF-κB system. PDTC treatment prevented p65 migration and normalized IKK-α, limited crystal shift to the interstitium, and strongly attenuated interstitial fibrosis/inflammation. These findings indicate that the complex inflammatory phenomena associated with this model depend, at least in part, on NF-κB activation, and suggest that the NF-κB system may become a therapeutic target in the treatment of chronic kidney disease.

Although ROS can participate in modulating the activity of the transcriptional factor NF-κB and expression of NF-κB-dependent genes, the mechanisms involved and the roles of specific ROS have not been fully determined. In particular, individual ROS appear to have differing effects on NF-κB activation dependent on the cell population studied. In the present study, we examined the ability of H2O2to affect NF-κB activation in LPS-stimulated murine neutrophils and macrophages. Exposure of bone marrow or peritoneal neutrophils to H2O2was associated with reduced nuclear translocation of NF-κB and decreased production of the NF-κB-dependent cytokines TNF-α and macrophage inhibitory protein-2. H2O2treatment resulted in diminished trypsin- and chymotrypsin-like proteasome activity. The degradation of IκB-α normally found in LPS-treated neutrophils was prevented when H2O2was added to cell cultures. In contrast to the effects found in neutrophils, H2O2did not affect chymotrypsin-like proteasomal activity or cytokine production in LPS-stimulated macrophages, even though trypsin-like proteasomal activity was reduced. These results demonstrate that the effects of H2O2on NF-κB and proteasomal activity are cell population specific.

The present study examined the role of hepatocyte NF-kappaB activation during ischemia-reperfusion injury. Second, we evaluated the effects of ischemic hypothermia on NF-kappaB activation and liver injury. C57BL/6 mice underwent 90 min of partial hepatic ischemia and up to 8 h of reperfusion. Body temperature was regulated during the ischemic period between 35 and 37 degrees C, 33 and 35 degrees C, 29 and 33 degrees C or unregulated, where temperature fell to29 degrees C. Liver injury, as measured by serum alanine aminotransferase as well as liver histopathology, was inversely proportional to regulated body temperature, with the unregulated group (29 degrees C) being highly protected and the normothermic group (35-37 degrees C) displaying the greatest injury. Inflammation, as measured by production of TNF-alpha and liver recruitment of neutrophils, was greatest in the normothermic groups and lowest in the ischemic hypothermia groups. Interestingly, hepatocyte NF-kappaB activation was highest in the hypothermic group and least in the normothermic group. Paradoxically, degradation of IkappaB proteins, IkappaB-alpha and IkappaB-beta, was greatest in the normothermic group, suggesting an alternate NF-kappaB regulatory mechanism during ischemia-reperfusion injury. Subsequently, we found that NF-kappaB p65 protein was increasingly degraded in normothermic versus hypothermic groups, and this degradation was specific for hepatocytes and was associated with decreased expression of the peptidyl-prolyl isomerase Pin1. The data suggest that NF-kappaB activation in hepatocytes is a protective response during ischemia-reperfusion and can be augmented by ischemic hypothermia. Furthermore, it appears that Pin1 promotes NF-kappaB p65 protein stability such that decreased expression of Pin1 during ischemia-reperfusion results in p65 degradation, reduced nuclear translocation of NF-kappaB, and enhanced hepatocellular injury.

Fas-associated death-domain protein (FADD) is an adaptor molecule that links death receptors to caspase-8 in many cell types including cardiomyocytes (CMs). Although FADD has previously been reported to play an important role in CM apoptosis, the effect of FADD on CM NF-kappaB signaling, which is a proinflammatory pathway, has not been delineated. To investigate the role of FADD in CM NF-kappaB activation, we utilized adenoviral gene transfer of wild-type FADD and a truncation mutant that lacks the death-effector domain (FADD-DED) in rat CMs in vitro TNF-alpha activated NF-kappaB in CMs as demonstrated by phosphorylation and degradation of inhibitory-kappaB (IkappaB)-alpha-enhanced nuclear p65 and NF-kappaB DNA-binding activity as well as increased mRNA for the NF-kappaB-dependent adhesion molecule VCAM-1 (19 +/- 4.1-fold) as measured by quantitative RT-PCR. Gene transfer of FADD inhibited TNF-alpha-induced IkappaB-alpha phosphorylation, decreased p65 nuclear translocation and NF-kappaB DNA-binding activity, and reduced VCAM-1 transcript levels by 53-65%. Interestingly, FADD-DED exhibited a similar but weaker inhibitory effect on NF-kappaB activation. The effects of FADD on NF-kappaB were cell-type specific. FADD expression also inhibited TNF-alpha-mediated NF-kappaB activation in human endothelial cells but not in rat pulmonary artery smooth muscle cells. In contrast, FADD expression actually activated NF-kappaB in human embryonic kidney (HEK)-293 cells. In CMs, FADD inhibited NF-kappaB activation as well as phosphorylation of IkappaB-alpha and IkappaB kinase (IKK)-beta in response to cytokine stimulation or expression of the upstream kinases NF-kappaB-inducing kinase and IKK-beta. These data demonstrate that FADD inhibits NF-kappaB activation in CMs, and this inhibition likely occurs at the level of phosphorylation and activation of IKK-beta.

β-adrenergic agonists,besides their cardiac and bronchial muscle relaxing effects, have been shown to possess anti-inflammatory functions. These functions are most notable during systemic inflammatory response syndrome when lipopolysaccharide (LPS) induces the production of proinflammatory

AIRWAY INFLAMMATION CHARACTERIZED by an influx of neutrophils and high concentrations of proinflammatory cytokines is a prominent and early feature of cystic fibrosis (CF). Until recently, it was thought that airway inflammation in CF was secondary to chronic bacterial infection resulting from impaired mucociliary clearance. However, new evidence supports the idea that dysregulation of the inflammatory response is an intrinsic component of the CF phenotype, and, therefore