NFkappaB2 (p52) promoter activation via Notch signaling pathway in rheumatoid synoviocytes.

Rheumatoid synoviocytes produce inflammatory cytokines and exhibit strong proliferation activity, which cause severe cartilage destruction in the joints. Previously, we reported that NFkappaB, a transcriptional factor that activated by mitogenic signals, was activated in rheumatoid synoviocytes. In addition, we revealed that Notch-1, the transcriptional factor that is involved in the developmental stages, was abnormally activated in rheumatoid synoviocytes. In this study, as one of the roles of Notch-1 for the chronic inflammation in RA, we examined its implication to NFkappaB2 activation in rheumatoid synoviocytes. Western blotting analysis showed that NFkappaB2 expression was elevated in rheumatoid synoviocytes compared with patients with osteoarthritis studied as control. We then analyzed NFkappaB2 binding activity to the promoter and revealed that kappaB binding complexes to the NFkappaB2 promoter was elevated in rheumatoid synoviocytes. We analyzed implication of Notch-1 signaling pathway on NFkappaB2 activation, and found that Notch-1 made a complex with recombination binding protein Jkappa (RBPJkappa), a repressor for NFkappaB2 promoter, and blocked binding of RBPJkappa to the promoter. These results indicated that as one of the mechanisms for nuclear translocated Notch-1, complex formation with RBPJkappa induces blocking of the NFkappaB2 promoter suppression, which might cause NFkappaB2 promoter activation.