Upregulation of lysyl oxidase in vascular smooth muscle cells by cAMP: role for adenosine receptor activation.

Lysyl oxidase (LO) is a key participant in the accumulation of insoluble fibers of elastin and collagen by virtue of its role in the initiation of the covalent cross-linkages between and within individual molecules comprising these fibers. In view of the essential role played by LO in the accumulation of the fibrotic components of occlusive arterial lesions in atherosclerosis, identification of the signaling molecules which can affect the expression of the LO gene in vascular smooth muscle is of considerable interest. In the present report, we describe evidence for the role of the second messenger, cAMP, in the modulation of the levels of LO in vascular smooth muscle cells. Elevated intracellular cAMP induces the transcription of the LO gene, as revealed by Northern blot analysis and nuclear run on assays. Transient transfection experiments performed with the wild-type LO promoter and with this promoter mutated at a consensus CREB site, located within the region -100 to -93 base pairs relative to the start of transcription, indicate that cAMP-induced transcriptional activation is partially due to the presence of this CREB site within the promoter. Activation of stimulatory adenosine receptors in vascular smooth muscle cells with 5'-N-ethylcarboxamido adenosine (NECA) increases cAMP, LO mRNA, and enzyme activity. These findings point to the importance of cAMP signaling, potentially initiated by a variety of physiological agents, in the upregulation of LO expression in vascular smooth muscle cells. Copyright 1999 Wiley-Liss, Inc.