© 2003 by European Society of Cardiology
Copyright © 2003, European Society of Cardiology
Hypertrophic agonists induce the binding of c-Fos to an AP-1 site in cardiac myocytes: implications for the expression of GLUT1
aNational Heart and Lung Institute, Faculty of Medicine, Imperial College London, London, UK
bInstitute of Toxicology, Division of Applied Toxicology, University of Mainz, Mainz, Germany
t.santalucia{at}imperial.ac.uk
* Corresponding author. Kennedy Institute of Rheumatology, Imperial College London, 1 Aspenlea Road, London, UK. Tel.: +44-20-8383-4432; fax: +44-20-8383-4499.
Objectives: Serum is among the agents known to induce hypertrophy of cardiac myocytes, which occurs concomitant with an increase in AP-1-mediated transcription. We have examined if this effect correlates with changes in the relative abundance of particular AP-1 heterodimers, as their exact composition under these conditions is unknown. Furthermore, we obtained insight on the specific role of c-Fos from studying the induction of the glucose transporter GLUT1 by serum in fibroblasts. Methods: We characterised the AP-1 heterodimers expressed in neonatal cardiac myocytes by supershift electrophoretic mobility shift assay (EMSA) analysis. Quantitative changes in transcription were measured using a luciferase reporter vector, and we examined the expression of the glucose transporter GLUT1 in cardiac myocytes and a c-Fos knockout-derived fibroblast cell line by western blotting. Results: Transcriptionally active AP-1 in combinations of c-Jun, JunD and JunB with Fra1, Fra2 and possibly FosB, are expressed in cardiac myocytes. Hypertrophic stimuli transiently induced AP-1 dimers containing c-Fos, and this was dependent on the ERK mitogen-activated protein kinase pathway and coincided with the activation of AP-1-mediated transcription and the induction of GLUT1 in cardiac myocytes. In fibroblasts, the induction of GLUT1 by serum required the specific expression of c-Fos. Conclusion: Our data suggest that induction of c-Fos containing AP-1 heterodimers may partly activate AP-1-mediated transcription in cardiac myocytes treated with hypertrophic agonists under conditions known to induce GLUT1. Data obtained in fibroblasts treated with serum lead us to hypothesise that c-Fos might play a major role in the regulation of GLUT1 expression.
KEYWORDS Myocytes; Hypertrophy; Signal transduction; G-proteins; Glycolysis