Despite transcriptional and functional coordination, cyclooxygenase-2 and microsomal prostaglandin E synthase-1 largely reside in distinct lipid microdomains in WISH epithelial cells.

Cytokine-induced prostaglandin (PG)E(2) synthesis requires increased expression of cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) in human WISH epithelial cells. Recently, an inducible downstream PGE synthase (microsomal PGE synthase-1, mPGES-1) has been implicated in this inflammatory pathway. We evaluated cooperation between COX-2 and mPGES-1 as a potential mechanism for induced PGE(2) production in WISH cells. Cytokine stimulation led to increased expression of both enzymes. Selective pharmacological inhibition of these enzymes demonstrated that induced PGE(2) release occurred through a dominant COX-2/mPGES-1 pathway. Unexpectedly, immunofluorescent microscopy revealed that the expression of these enzymes was not tightly coordinated among cells after cytokine challenge. Within cells expressing high levels of both mPGES-1 and COX-2, immunolabeling of high-resolution semithin cryosections revealed that COX-2 and mPGES-1 were largely segregated to distinct regions within continuous intracellular membranes. Using biochemical means, it was further revealed that the majority of mPGES-1 resided within detergent-insoluble membrane fractions, whereas COX-2 was found only in detergent-soluble fractions. We conclude that although mPGES-1 and COX-2 show transcriptional and functional coordination in cytokine-induced PGE(2) synthesis, complementary morphological and biochemical data suggest that a majority of intracellular mPGES-1 and COX-2 are segregated to discrete lipid microdomains in WISH epithelial cells.