Abstract
Pattern-recognition receptors including Toll-like receptors (TLRs) recognize invading pathogens and trigger an immune response in mammals. Here we show that mammalian ste20-like kinase 1/serine/threonine kinase 4 (MST1/STK4) functions as a negative regulator of lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced activation of the TLR4-NF-κB signaling pathway associated with inflammation. Myeloid-specific genetic ablation of MST1/STK4 increased the susceptibility of mice to LPS-induced septic shock. Ablation of MST1/STK4 also enhanced NF-κB activation triggered by LPS in bone marrow-derived macrophages (BMDMs), leading to increased production of proinflammatory cytokines by these cells. Furthermore, MST1/STK4 inhibited TRAF6 autoubiquitination as well as TRAF6-mediated downstream signaling induced by LPS. In addition, we found that TRAF6 mediates the LPS-induced activation of MST1/STK4 by catalyzing its ubiquitination, resulting in negative feedback regulation by MST1/STK4 of the LPS-induced pathway leading to cytokine production in macrophages. Together, our findings suggest that MST1/STK4 functions as a negative modulator of the LPS-induced NF-κB signaling pathway during macrophage activation.
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Acknowledgements
We thank S. Yonehara, S. Kang, and D. Goeddel for Flag-MST1/STK4, HA-ubiquitin, and TRAF6 cDNAs, respectively, as well as V. M. Dixit for the antibody to K63-linked polyubiquitin and T. Kinashi for MST1/STK4fl/fl mice. This work was supported by a National Research Foundation grant (NRF-2020R1A2C2011392) funded by the Ministry of Science and ICT of Korea as well as by a Korea University grant (E.-J.C.). K.-H.R. was supported financially by a Global Ph.D. fellowship (2016H1A2A1907478) funded by the Ministry of Science and ICT of Korea.
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KHR, YL, IYL, DL, EK, EP, and JHY conducted the experiments. KHR, YL, EP, TSK, HKS, JHY and EJC designed the experiments. DSL and JS provided materials. KHR and EJC wrote the paper.
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Roh, KH., Lee, Y., Yoon, JH. et al. TRAF6-mediated ubiquitination of MST1/STK4 attenuates the TLR4-NF-κB signaling pathway in macrophages. Cell. Mol. Life Sci. 78, 2315–2328 (2021). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00018-020-03650-4
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00018-020-03650-4