Abstract

Tumor necrosis factor (TNF) and Toll-like receptor (TLR)3/TLR4 activation trigger necroptotic cell death through downstream signaling complex containing receptor-interacting protein kinase 1 (RIPK1), RIPK3, and pseudokinase mixed lineage kinase-domain-like (MLKL). However, the regulation of necroptotic signaling pathway is far less investigated. Here we showed that c-Jun N-terminal kinases (JNK1 and JNK2) displayed kinase-dependent and -independent functions in regulating TNF- and TLRs-mediated necroptosis. We found that RIPK1 and RIPK3 promoted cell-death-independent JNK activation in macrophages, which contributed to pro-inflammatory cytokines production. Meanwhile, blocking the kinase activity of JNK dramatically reduced TNF and TLRs-induced necroptotic cell death. Consistently, inhibition of JNK activity protected mice from TNF-induced death and Staphylococcus aureus-mediated lung damage. However, depletion of JNK protein using siRNA sensitized macrophages to necroptosis that was triggered by LPS or poly I:C but still inhibited TNF-induced necroptosis. Mechanistic studies revealed that RIPK1 recruited JNK to the necrosome complex and their kinase activity was required for necrosome formation and the phosphorylation of MLKL in TNF- and TLRs-induced necroptosis. Loss of JNK protein consistently suppressed the phosphorylation of MLKL and necrosome formation in TNF-triggered necroptosis, but differentially promoted the phosphorylation of MLKL and necrosome formation in poly I:C-triggered necroptosis by promoting the oligomeration of TRIF. In conclusion, our findings define a differential role for JNK in regulating TNF- and TLRs-mediated necroptosis by their kinase or scaffolding activities.

Highlights

  • Necroptosis is a type of programmed cell death, independent of caspases activity, and characterized by receptor-interacting protein kinase 1 (RIPK1) and RIPK3 form a protein complex called necrosome through their RIP homotypic interaction motif (RHIM), which leads to the phosphorylation and oligomerization of RIPK37–9

  • RIPK3siRNA impaired the phosphorylation of JNK and P38 in peritoneal macrophages stimulated with LPS, poly I:C, or Tumor necrosis factor (TNF) plus zVAD (Fig. 1g–i)

  • As previous work has shown that RIPK1- and RIPK3-induced inflammation is independent on cell death from the results of MLKLdeficient macrophages[36], we found that knockdown mixed lineage kinase-domain-like (MLKL) could not change the activation of JNK and P38 in peritoneal macrophages treated with LPS plus zVAD (Fig. 1j)

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Summary

Introduction

Necroptosis is a type of programmed cell death, independent of caspases activity, and characterized by RIPK1 and RIPK3 form a protein complex called necrosome through their RIP homotypic interaction motif (RHIM), which leads to the phosphorylation and oligomerization of RIPK37–9. Several apoptosis-related proteins, including caspase 8, FADD, and cFLIP, inhibit the activation of necroptosis. Deficiency of these genes causes embryonic lethality in mice which is dependent on RIPK3 and MLKL-mediated necroptosis[19,20,21]. Other reports showed that several kinases, including IKKα, IKKβ, and MK2 directly phosphorylated RIPK1 and restricted the autophosphorylation of RIPK1, which inhibited the activation of TNF-induced apoptosis and necroptosis[22,23,24,25]. Necrosome recruits molecular chaperone HSP90 and CDC37 to facilitate necroptotic signaling transduction[30]

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