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Updated: Jun 10, 2026

Highly Efficient Transfection of Human THP-1 Macrophages by Nucleofection
Published on: September 2, 2014
Selective inhibitors of Kv11.1 regulate IL-6 expression by macrophages in response to TLR/IL-1R ligands
Cheryl Hunter1, Tejas B Kadakia, Dianne Cooper
1MRC Centre for Inflammation Research, Queen's Medical Research Institute, College of Medicine and Veterinary Medicine, University of Edinburgh. CHunter@regentec.net
Abstract:
The mechanism by which the platelet-endothelial cell adhesion molecule PECAM-1 regulates leukodiapedesis, vascular endothelial integrity, and proinflammatory cytokine expression in vivo is not known. We recently identified PECAM-1 as a negative regulator of Kv11.1, a specific voltage-gated potassium channel that functioned in human macrophages to reset a resting membrane potential following depolarization. We demonstrate here that dofetilide (DOF), a selective inhibitor of the Kv11.1 current, had a profound inhibitory effect on neutrophil recruitment in mice following TLR/IL-1R-elicited peritonitis or intrascrotal injection of IL-1 Beta, but had no effect on responses seen with TNF alpha. Furthermore, inhibitors of Kv11.1 (DOF, E4031, and astemizole), but not Kv1.3 (margatoxin), suppressed the expression of IL-6 and MCP-1 cytokines by murine resident peritoneal macrophages, while again having no effect on TNF alpha. In contrast, IL-6 expression by peritoneal mesothelial cells was unaffected. Using murine P388 cells, which lack endogenous C/EBP Beta expression and are unresponsive to LPS for the expression of both IL-6 and MCP-1, we observed that DOF inhibited LPS-induced expression of IL-6 mRNA following ectopic expression of wild-type C/EBP Beta, but not a serine-64 point mutant. Finally, DOF inhibited the constitutive activation of cdk2 in murine peritoneal macrophages; cdk2 is known to phosphorylate C/EBP Beta at serine-64. Taken together, our results implicate a potential role for Kv11.1 in regulating cdk2 and C/EBP Beta activity, where robust transactivation of both IL-6 and MCP-1 transcription is known to be dependent on serine-64 of C/EBP Beta. Our data might also explain the altered phenotypes displayed by PECAM-1 knockout mice in several disease models.
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