Oxidative stress induced HSP27 expression in human lens epithelial cells is regulated by P38 map kinase

Abstract

To investigate the role of P38MAPK signaling pathway in hydrogen peroxide (H2O2) induced the expression of heat shock protein 27 in human lens epithelial cell line HLE-B3. Human lens epithelial cell line HLE-B3 was cultured and then co-incubated with H2O2 (100 micromol/L, 200 micromol/L) for different time with or without pretreatment with Specific P38MAPK inhibitor SB 203580. RT-PCR and Western blotting were used to detect HSP(27) mRNA and protein expressions at different time points after H2O2 stimulation in human lens epithelial cells. Western blotting was used to detect the expression of phosphorylated P38MAPK. The expression of HSP(27) mRNA and protein was increased significantly after the H2O2 stimulation. The activity of stress-activated protein kinase was increased at 30 minutes after treatment with H2O2 and decreased to base level at 6 hours (P < 0.01). The expression of phosphorylation of P38MAPK was increased after treatment of H2O2 and reached the highest level at 15 minutes after stimulation and then decreased. The expression of HSP(27) was down-regulated with the pretreatment of SB 203580 compared with that in the H2O2 group (P < 0.01). H2O2 induces the expression of heat shock protein 27 in human lens epithelial cell line. The effects are mediated, at least in part, through the activation of P38MAPK signaling pathway.