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Non-phagocytic NAD(P)H oxidases have been implicated as major sources of reactive oxygen species in blood vessels. These oxidases can be activated by cytokines, thereby generating O(2), which is subsequently converted to H(2)O(2) and other oxidant species. The oxidants, in turn, act as important second messengers in cell signaling cascades. We hypothesized that reactive oxygen species, themselves, can activate the non-phagocytic NAD(P)H oxidases in vascular cells to induce oxidant production and, consequently, cellular injury. The current report demonstrates that exogenous exposure of non-phagocytic cell types of vascular origin (smooth muscle cells and fibroblasts) to H(2)O(2) activates these cell types to produce O(2) via an NAD(P)H oxidase. The ensuing endogenous production of O(2) contributes significantly to vascular cell injury following exposure to H(2)O(2). These results suggest the existence of a feed-forward mechanism, whereby reactive oxygen species such as H(2)O(2) can activate NAD(P)H oxidases in non-phagocytic cells to produce additional oxidant species, thereby amplifying the vascular injury process. Moreover, these findings implicate the non-phagocytic NAD(P)H oxidase as a novel therapeutic target for the amelioration of the biological effects of chronic oxidant stress.

Manganese superoxide dismutase (Mn-SOD) is a primary antioxidant enzyme whose expression is essential for life in oxygen. Mn-SOD has tumor suppressor activity in a wide variety of tumors and transformed cell systems. Our initial observations revealed that Mn-SOD expression was inversely correlated with expression of AP-2 transcription factors in normal human fibroblasts and their SV-40 transformed counterparts. Thus we hypothesized that AP-2 may down-regulate Mn-SOD expression. To examine the functional role of AP-2 on Mn-SOD promoter transactivation we cotransfected AP-2-deficient HepG2 cells with a human Mn-SOD promoter-reporter construct and expression vectors encoding each of the three known AP-2 family members. Our results indicated that AP-2 could significantly repress Mn-SOD promoter activity, and that this repression was both Mn-SOD promoter and AP-2-specific. The three AP-2 proteins appeared to play distinct roles in Mn-SOD gene regulation. Moreover, although all three AP-2 proteins could repress the Mn-SOD promoter, AP-2alpha and AP-2gamma were more active in this regard than AP-2beta. Transcriptional repression by AP-2 was not a general effect in this system, because another AP-2-responsive gene, c-erbB-3, was transactivated by AP-2. Repression of Mn-SOD by AP-2 was dependent on DNA binding, and expression of AP-2B, a dominant negative incapable of DNA binding, relieved the repression on Mn-SOD promoter and reactivated Mn-SOD expression in the AP-2 abundant SV40-transformed fibroblast cell line MRC-5VA. These results indicate that AP-2-mediated transcriptional repression contributes to the constitutively low expression of Mn-SOD in SV40-transformed fibroblasts and suggest a mechanism for Mn-SOD down-regulation in cancer.

Glutathione peroxidase (GPX) is a primary antioxidant enzyme that scavenges hydrogen peroxide or organic hydroperoxides. We have recently found that GPX is induced by etoposide, a topoisomerase II inhibitor and a p53 activator. In a search for a cis-element that confers potential p53 regulation of GPX, we identified a p53 binding site in the promoter of the GPX gene. This site bound to purified p53 as well as p53 in nuclear extract activated by etoposide. A luciferase reporter driven by a 262-base pair GPX promoter fragment was transcriptionally activated by wild type p53 in a p53 binding site-dependent manner. The same reporter was also activated in a p53 binding site-independent manner by several p53 mutants. The p53 binding and transactivation of the GPX promoter were enhanced by etoposide in p53-positive U2-OS cells. Etoposide-induced transactivation was blocked by a dominant negative p53 mutant, indicating that endogenous wild type p53, upon activation by etoposide, transactivated the GPX promoter. Furthermore, expression of endogenous GPX was induced significantly at both mRNA and enzyme activity levels by etoposide in U2-OS cells but not in p53-negative Saos-2 cells. This is the first report demonstrating that GPX is a novel p53 target gene. The finding links the p53 tumor suppressor to an antioxidant enzyme and will facilitate study of the p53 signaling pathway and antioxidant enzyme regulation.

Several recently identified intracellular proteins associate with the tumor necrosis factor (TNF) receptor and activate nuclear transcription factor (NF)-kappaB, c-Jun kinase, and apoptosis. However, the mechanism is not understood. In the present report, we investigated the role of reactive oxygen intermediates in TNF-induced signaling. Overexpression of manganese superoxide dismutase (Mn-SOD) in human breast cancer MCF-7 cells completely abolished TNF-mediated NF-kappaB activation, IkappaB alpha degradation, p65 nuclear translocation, and NF-kappaB-dependent reporter gene expression. Besides TNF, phorbol ester-, okadaic acid-, ceramide-, and lipopolysaccharide-induced activation of NF-kappaB was blocked by Mn-SOD, indicating a common pathway of activation. H2O2-induced NF-kappaB activation, however, was potentiated. In addition, Mn-SOD blocked the TNF-mediated activation of activated protein-1, stress-activated c-Jun protein kinase, and mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase. TNF-induced antiproliferative effects and caspase-3 activation, indicators of apoptosis, were also completely suppressed by transfection of cells with Mn-SOD. Suppression of apoptosis induced by okadaic acid, H2O2, and taxol was also inhibited by Mn-SOD but not that induced by vincristine, vinblastine, or daunomycin. Overall, these results demonstrate that, in addition to several recently identified signaling molecules, reactive oxygen intermediates play a critical role in activation of NF-kappaB, activated protein-1, c-Jun kinase, and apoptosis induced by TNF and other agents.

We have reported the tumor suppressive effects of manganese-containing superoxide dismutase (MnSOD) in human breast cancer cells. In order to understand the molecular mechanism of this anti-tumor effect, we asked whether tumor suppressor gene(s), especially the ones inhibiting tumor invasion and motility, are involved in MnSOD-induced tumor suppression. Maspin is one of the serpin family of protease inhibitors that has been shown to function as a tumor-suppressor in human breast epithelium. In the present study, we demonstrated that maspin expression was up-regulated in human breast cancer MCF-7 cells that overexpress a normal MnSOD gene. The induced maspin transcripts were detected by RT-PCR and Northern blot and identified by sequencing. Maspin gene expression was induced in parallel with the level of exogenous MnSOD protein, which was induced by transfection with varied amounts of cDNA. In order to analyze cell invasion ability, which may be related to the induced maspin gene expression, MnSOD stable transfectants were tested using a matrigel invasion chamber. The invasion ability was reduced to 24% and 36% in the cloned (MCF + SOD) and pooled MnSOD-transfectants (MCF + SODp) respectively, compared with the wild-type MCF-7 cell line. In conclusion, these results suggest that overexpression of a normal MnSOD cDNA in human breast cancer cells up-regulates the gene expression of the protease inhibitor, maspin, which may play a role in the inhibitory function of MnSOD on tumor invasion.