Up-Regulation of placental leptin by human chorionic gonadotropin

Leptin, the 16,000 molecular weight protein product of the obese gene, was originally considered as an adipocyte-derived signaling moleculeforthe central control of metabolism. However, leptin has been suggested to be involved in other functions during pregnancy, particularly in placenta, in which i...

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Detalles Bibliográficos
Autores: Maymó, J.L., Pérez, A.P., Sánchez-Margalet, V., Dueñas, J.L., Calvo, J.C., Varone, C.L.
Tipo de recurso: artículo
Estado:Versión publicada
Fecha de publicación:2009
País:Argentina
Institución:Universidad Nacional de Buenos Aires. Facultad de Ciencias Exactas y Naturales
Repositorio:Biblioteca Digital (UBA-FCEN)
Idioma:inglés
OAI Identifier:paperaa:paper_00137227_v150_n1_p304_Maymo
Acceso en línea:http://hdl.handle.net/20.500.12110/paper_00137227_v150_n1_p304_Maymo
Access Level:acceso abierto
Palabra clave:2 (2 amino 3 methoxyphenyl)chromone
binding protein
chorionic gonadotropin
cyclic AMP
cyclic AMP dependent protein kinase
leptin
luciferase
mitogen activated protein kinase
mitogen activated protein kinase 1
mitogen activated protein kinase 3
phosphatidylinositol 3 kinase
recombinant chorionic gonadotropin
wortmannin
article
cancer cell culture
catalysis
cell line
cell stimulation
choriocarcinoma
DNA responsive element
enzyme subunit
explant
genetic transfection
hormonal regulation
hormone response
human
human cell
plasmid
priority journal
promoter region
protein analysis
protein expression
protein phosphorylation
reporter gene
signal transduction
trophoblast
Western blotting
Descripción
Sumario:Leptin, the 16,000 molecular weight protein product of the obese gene, was originally considered as an adipocyte-derived signaling moleculeforthe central control of metabolism. However, leptin has been suggested to be involved in other functions during pregnancy, particularly in placenta, in which it was found to be expressed. In the present work, we have found that recombinant human chorionic gonadotropin (hCG) added to BeWo choriocarcinoma cell line showed a stimulatory effect on endogenous leptin expression, when analyzed by Western blot. This effect was time and dose dependent. Maximal effect was achieved at hCG 100 IU/ml. Moreover, hCG treatment enhanced leptin promoter activity up to 12.9 times, evaluated by transient transfection with a plasmid construction containing different promoter regions and the reporter gene luciferase. This effect was dose dependent and evidenced with all the promoter regions analyzed, regardless of length. Similar results were obtained with placental explants, thus indicating physiological relevance. Because hCG signal transduction usually involves cAMP signaling, this pathway was analyzed. Contrarily, we found that dibutyryl cAMP counteracted hCG effect on leptin expression. Furthermore, cotransfection with the catalytic subunit of PKA and/or the transcription factor cAMP response element binding protein repressed leptin expression. Thereafter we determined that hCG effect could be partially blocked by pharmacologic inhibition of MAPK pathway with 50 μM PD98059 but not by the inhibition of the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase pathway with 0.1 μm wortmannin. Moreover, hCG treatment promoted MAPK kinase and ERK1/ERK2 phosphorylation in placental cells. Finally, cotransfection with a dominant-negative mutant of MAPK blocked the hCG-mediated activation of leptin expression. In conclusion, we provide some evidence suggesting that hCG induces leptin expression in trophoblastic cells probably involving the MAPK signal transduction pathway. Copyright © 2009.