Modulating temporal control of NF-kappaB activation: implications for therapeutic and assay selection

The activation of transcription factor NF-kappaB (nuclear factor-kappaB) plays a central role in the induction of many inflammatory response genes. This process is characterized by either oscillations or stable induction of NF-kappaB nuclear binding. Changes in dynamics of binding result in the expression of distinct subsets of genes leading to different physiological outcomes. We examined NF-kappaB DNA binding activity in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated IC-21 cells by electromobility shift assay and nonradioactive transcription factor assay and interpreted the results using a kinetic model of NF-kappaB activation. Both assays detected damped oscillatory behavior of NF-kappaB with differences in sensitivity and reproducibility. 3,4-Dichloropropionaniline (DCPA) was used to modulate the oscillatory behavior of NF-kappaB after LPS stimulation. DCPA is known to inhibit the production of two NF-kappaB-inducible cytokines, IL-6 and tumor necrosis factor alpha, by reducing but not completely abrogating NF-kappaB-induced transcription. DCPA treatment resulted in a potentiation of early LPS-induced NF-kappaB activation. The nonradioactive transcription factor assay, which has a higher signal/noise ratio than the electromobility shift assay, combined with in silico modeling, produced results that revealed changes in NF-kappaB dynamics which, to the best of our knowledge, have never been previously reported. These results highlight the importance of cell type and stimulus specificity in transcription factor activity assessment. In addition, assay selection has important implications for network inference and drug discovery.