CoCl₂ Decreases EC-SOD Expression through Histone Deacetylation in COS7 Cells

Extracellular-superoxide dismutase (EC-SOD), one of the SOD isozymes, is negatively regulated under hypoxic conditions, and decreases in its expression may exacerbate vascular diseases. Moreover, epigenetics, such as DNA methylation and histone modifications, are known to play a critical role in the progression of cancer, type 2 diabetes, and atherosclerosis. We previously investigated the involvement of reactive oxygen species (ROS) and p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) in decreases in EC-SOD expression in hypoxic COS7 cells; however, the role of epigenetics in this process currently remains unknown. In the present study, we demonstrated that the hypoxia mimetic cobalt chloride (CoCl₂) decreased histone acetylation levels, and a pretreatment with 4-phenyl butyric acid (PBA), an inhibitor of histone deacetylase, significantly suppressed CoCl₂-elicited histone deacetylation and decreases in EC-SOD. We found that CoCl₂-elicited decreases in EC-SOD were accompanied by reductions in histone H3 acetylation levels within its promoter region. Furthermore, luteolin, a well-known flavonoid, significantly suppressed the CoCl₂-elicited accumulation of ROS, p38-MAPK activation, and histone deacetylation. Collectively, the results of the present study showed for the first time that CoCl₂ decreases the expression of EC-SOD through its deacetylation and luteolin may be one of the seed compounds that maintain redox homeostasis, even under hypoxic conditions.