Abstract
Activation of IκB kinase (IKK) is the key step in stimulation of the transcription factor NF-κB, which regulates many genes in the inflammatory response pathway. The molecular mechanism that underlies IKK activation in response to tumor necrosis factor (TNF) is still unknown. Using mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase kinase 3 (MEKK3)-deficient fibroblast cells, we found that MEKK3 plays a critical role in TNF-induced NF-κB activation. We have shown that MEKK3 is required for IKK activation and functions downstream of receptor-interacting protein (RIP) and TNF receptor– associated factor 2. We have also shown that MEKK3 interacts with RIP and directly phosphorylates IKK. The kinase activity of MEKK3 is pivotal to its function and, therefore, MEKK3 links RIP and IKK in TNF-induced NF-κB activation.
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Acknowledgements
We thank M. Kelliher for the RIP−/− cells, W.-C. Yeh and T. W. Mak for TRAF2−/− cells and G. Sun and M. Boerm for technical help. Partly supported by grants from the Cancer Center Core grant (CA16672), the American Cancer Society (RPG –97-090) and National Institutes of Health (AI44016) (to B. S.).
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Web Figure 1.
NF-κB reporter activation by IL-1 in MEKK3-/- MEFs was impaired. p2xNF-kB-Luc plasmid (1 μg) was transfected into wild-type and MEKK3-/-MEFs. Cells were either untreated (-) or stimulated with 25 ng/ml IL-1 (+) 24 h after transfection. Relative luciferase activity was determined 12 h later. Data are the average of three independent experiments. (GIF 11 kb)
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Yang, J., Lin, Y., Guo, Z. et al. The essential role of MEKK3 in TNF-induced NF-κB activation. Nat Immunol 2, 620–624 (2001). https://doi.org/10.1038/89769
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1038/89769
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