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Ranta F, Dufer M, Stork B, Wesselborg S, Drews G, Haring HU, Lang F, Ullrich S: Regulation of calcineurin activity in insulin-secreting cells: stimulation by Hsp90 during glucocorticoid-induced apoptosis. Cell Signal. 2008 Oct;20(10):1780-6. Epub 2008 Jun 18. Previously, we described that apoptotic cell death induced by the synthetic glucocorticoid dexamethasone (dex) is inhibited by calcineurin inhibitors, FK506 and deltamethrin, in insulin-secreting cells. The aim of the present study was to examine the mechanism of dex-dependent activation of calcineurin. In INS-1 cells cultured up to 4d with dex (100 nmol/l), the percentage of apoptosis, quantified by condensed nuclei and TUNEL positive cells, increased from 1% to 10.9%. FK506 inhibited dex-mediated cell death. Apoptosis was significantly higher at glucose concentrations that induce [Ca (2+)](i) oscillations than at low, non-stimulatory glucose. Dex had no acute effect on [Ca (2+)](i). Calcineurin activity, measured in control and dex-treated cell homogenates, revealed that maximal activity and the sensitivity to the substrate RII peptide was unaltered. However, dex treatment significantly increased enzyme activity at submaximal, physiological Ca (2+) concentrations. Dex did not stimulate the Ca (2+)-dependent protease calpain, known to activate calcineurin by cleavage, as no cleaved calcineurin was detectable. Furthermore, the calpain inhibitor ALLN did not counteract dex-dependent cell death. Western blotting revealed that in dex-treated cells heat shock protein 90 (Hsp90), a component of the glucocorticoid receptor (GR) known to stimulate calcineurin, was increased while calcineurin protein levels were unchanged. In immunoprecipitates with calcineurin antibodies, Hsp90 was only detected in dex-treated cell homogenates. These data suggest that dex-induced apoptosis involves release of Hsp90 from the stimulated GR complex, subsequent binding to and activation of calcineurin, that may contribute to dex-mediated cell death in the presence of high glucose. |
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