IL-32θ downregulates CCL5 expression through its interaction with PKCδ and STAT3

Interleukin-32 (IL-32) exists in several isoforms and plays an important role in inflammatory response. Recently, we identified a new isoform, IL-32θ, and performed a microarray analysis to identify IL-32θ-regulated genes in THP-1 myelomonocytic cells. Upon stimulating IL-32θ-expressing THP-1 cells with phorbol myristate acetate (PMA), we found that the CCL5 transcript level was significantly reduced. We confirmed the downregulation of CCL5 protein expression by using an enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Because STAT3 phosphorylation on Ser727 by PKCδ is reported to suppress CCL5 protein expression, we examined whether IL-32θ-mediated STAT3 Ser727 phosphorylation occurs through an interaction with PKCδ. In this study, we first demonstrate that IL-32θ interacts with PKCδ and STAT3 using co-immunoprecipitation (Co-IP) and pulldown assay. Moreover, STAT3 was rarely phosphorylated on Ser727 in the absence of IL-32θ, leading to the binding of STAT3 to the CCL5 promoter. These results indicate that IL-32θ, through its interaction with PKCδ, downregulates CCL5 expression by mediating the phosphorylation of STAT3 on Ser727 to render it transcriptionally inactive. Therefore, similar to what we have reported for IL-32α and IL-32β, our data from this study suggests that the newly identified IL-32θ isoform also acts as an intracellular modulator of inflammation.