Thrombin induces the expression of oncostatin M via AP-1 activation in human macrophages: a link between coagulation and inflammation.

Macrophages as inflammatory cells are involved in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis that today is recognized as an inflammatory disease. Activation of coagulation leads to the late complication of atherosclerosis, namely atherothrombosis with its clinical manifestations stroke, unstable angina, myocardial infarction, and sudden cardiac death. Thus inflammation and coagulation play fundamental roles in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis. We show that the coagulation enzyme thrombin up-regulates oncostatin M (OSM), a pleiotropic cytokine implicated in the pathophysiology of vascular disease, in human monocyte-derived macrophages (MDMs) up to 16.8-fold. A similar effect was seen in human peripheral blood monocytes and human plaque macrophages. In MDMs, the effect of thrombin on OSM was abolished by PPACK and mimicked by a PAR-1-specific peptide. Thrombin induced phosphorylation of ERK1/2 and p38 in MDMs. The ERK1/2 inhibitor PD98059 blocked the effect of thrombin on OSM production in MDMs, whereas the p38 inhibitor SB202190 had no effect. Thrombin induced translocation of c-fos and c-jun to the nucleus of MDMs. Using OSM promoter-luciferase reporter constructs transfected into MDMs, we show that a functional AP-1 site is required for promoter activation by thrombin. We present another link between coagulation and inflammation, which could impact on the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis.