Glutamine enhances heat shock protein 70 expression via increased hexosamine biosynthetic pathway activity

Glutamine (GLN) plays a key role in cellular protection following injury via enhancement of heat shock protein 70 (HSP70). The pathway by which GLN enhances HSP70 is unknown. GLN is a key substrate for the hexosamine biosynthetic pathway (HBP), which has been shown to induce HSP70. We sought to explore the role of the HBP in GLN-mediated HSP70 expression. Both chemical inhibitors and small interfering (si)RNA knockdown of key HBP enzymes were used in mouse embryonic fibroblast cells to determine the effects of the HBP on HSP70 expression. The O-glycosylation, nuclear translocation, and transcriptional activation of heat shock factor-1 (HSF-1) and Sp1 were evaluated using immunoprecipitation, Western blotting, and luciferase assays. HSP70 expression levels were evaluated via ELISA and Western blotting. GLN augmented HBP activity before and after heat stress (HS). Chemical inhibition of HBP enzymes reduced GLN-mediated HSP70 expression. Specific siRNA targeting of the key HBP enzyme UDP-N-acetylglucosamine (GlcNAc): polypeptide-O-beta-acetylglucosaminyltransferase (OGT) blocked GLN-mediated HSP70 expression and attenuated GLN-mediated cellular protection post-HS. Chemical and siRNA attenuation of the HBP blocked GLN-induced nuclear translocation of Sp1 and HSF-1, which are key to maximal HSP70 expression. Finally, immunoprecipitation revealed HSF-1 was O-glycosylated, and GLN enhanced this effect. These results suggest that metabolism of GLN via the HBP enhances HSP70 expression. This effect appears to be mediated via O-glycosylation, nuclear translocation, and transcriptional activation of Sp1 and HSF-1. This is an important mechanistic description of a pathway that appears responsible for GLN-mediated HSP70 expression.