Oxidized LDL potentiates LPS-induced transcription of the chemokine KC gene

Oxidized low-density lipoprotein (LDL) has been shown to modulate the expression of multiple gene products associated with inflammation in several different cell types including mononuclear phagocytes. The reported effects vary dramatically, however, depending upon cell type, stimulus, and degree of LDL oxidation. In the present report, oxidized LDL has been found to markedly potentiate expression of the KC chemokine gene in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated macrophages. Pretreatment of elicited mouse peritoneal macrophages with oxidized LDL but not native LDL produced a significant enhancement of LPS-induced KC mRNA expression, whereas levels of IP-10 mRNA, another CXC chemokine, were altered in opposite fashion. The alteration in KC mRNA expression was dependent upon the dose, exposure time, and extent of LDL oxidation. Oxidized LDL selectively prolonged the expression of KC mRNA. Surprisingly this was not a consequence of altered mRNA stability, but rather of prolonged transcription. These effects on KC gene transcription were in marked contrast to previous reports demonstrating inhibitory effects of oxidized LDL on LPS-induced macrophage chemokine expression. Thus extensively oxidized LDL acts on the transcriptional control process in macrophages in both positive and negative fashion on separate members of the same gene family.