Early induction of pyruvate dehydrogenase kinase 4 by retinoic acids in adipocytes

Vitamin A and its metabolites, such as retinoic acids (RA), are related to metabolic diseases, in particular insulin resistance and obesity. Here, we studied the roles of 9-cis RA and all-trans RA on the regulation of pyruvate dehydrogenase kinase 4 (PDK4), an enzyme involved in fatty acid reesterification, which is a crucial metabolic pathway in adipose tissue (AT) lipid homeostasis.

9-cis RA and all-trans RA treatment of human and murine AT explants, as well as adipocytes (3T3-F442A cell line) induces PDK4 expression both at the mRNA and the protein level, via a transcriptional mechanism. Using site-directed mutagenesis and chomatin immuno-precipitation, we showed that this activation involves two new RA responsive elements in the Pdk4 promoter, RAREa (DR1: -125/-112) and RAREb (DR1: -86/-73), specific to AT. Furthermore, even though endogeneous Pdk4 gene was upregulated by RA in Fao cells, a rat hepatoma cell line, the induction did not occur through the newly found RAREs.

In this study, we showed that adipocyte PDK4 gene is a new target of the vitamin A derived RA and might participate to the reduced fatty acid efflux from the adipocyte, a step that plays an important role in the developement of metabolic diseases.