Dual function of troglitazone in ICAM-1 gene expression in human vascular endothelium

Our previous work has shown that troglitazone (an antidiabetic, thiazolidione drug and a synthetic ligand for peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor gamma, PPARgamma) stimulated basal level of intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1) protein expression in the absence of cytokine stimulation in human vascular endothelial cells. In this study, we examine the molecular mechanism of troglitazone on the basal and TNFalpha-induced ICAM-1 gene expression. Activation of transcription factors, NF-kappaB and AP-1 proteins, known to regulate ICAM-1 gene expression upon external stimulators, was examined. In human vascular endothelial cells (ECV304 cells), troglitazone inhibited TNFalpha-induced ICAM-1 gene expression by suppressing NF-kappaB/DNA binding activity, NF-kappaB transcriptional responses, c-Fos mRNA and protein levels via a ligand-dependent, PPARgamma-activated manner. In contrast, both troglitazone (at 10 microM) and 15-deoxy-Delta(12,14)-prostaglandin J(2) (15d-PGJ(2), at 15 microM), a natural ligand for PPARgamma, induce c-Jun phosphorylation by activation of c-Jun N-terminal kinase (JNK) through a posttranslational regulation of c-Jun activity, therefore increasing AP-1/DNA binding activity and transcriptional responses as results of increasing basal ICAM-1 gene expression. These findings suggest dual function of troglitazone in the modulation of both basal and stimulated ICAM-1gene expression in human vascular endothelial cells.