Oxidative signaling in renal epithelium: Critical role of cytosolic phospholipase A2 and p38SAPK

Previous studies from this laboratory have demonstrated a critical role of cytosolic phospholipase A2 (cPLA2) and arachidonic acid in angiotensin II (Ang II) AT2 receptor-mediated signal transduction in renal epithelium. In primary proximal tubular epithelial cells exposed to hydrogen peroxide (H2O2), both the selective cPLA2 inhibitors and the cPLA2 antisense oligonucleotides significantly attenuated H2O2-induced arachidonic acid liberation and activation of p38SAPK, ERK1/2, and Akt1. This H2O2-induced kinase activation was significantly attenuated by a Src kinase inhibitor PP2, or by transient transfection of carboxyl-terminal Src kinase (CSK) that maintained Src in the dormant form. Under basal conditions, Src coimmunoprecipitated with epidermal growth factor receptor (EGFR), while H2O2 increased EGFR phosphorylation in the complex. We observed that inhibition of EGFR kinase activity with AG1478 significantly attenuated H2O2-induced p38SAPK and ERK1/2 activation, but did not inhibit Akt1 activation. Furthermore, it seems that p38SAPK is upstream of ERK1/2 and Akt1, since a p38SAPK inhibitor SB203580 significantly blocked H2O2-induced activation of ERK1/2 and Akt1. Interestingly, overexpression of the dominant-negative p38SAPK isoform α inhibited ERK1/2 but not Akt1 activation. Our observations demonstrate that in these nontransformed cells, activation of cPLA2 is a converging point for oxidative stress and Ang II, which share common downstream signaling mechanisms including Src and EGFR. In addition, p38SAPK provides a positive input to both growth and antiapoptotic signaling pathways induced by acute oxidative stress.