Induction of gene expression in response to globular adiponectin in vascular endothelial cells

Aims: Adiponectin is an adipocyte-specific protein that plays an important regulatory role in the development or prevention of diabetes and atherosclerosis.

Main methods: In the present study, we examined the effect of a proteolytic cleavage product of Adiponectin, known as globular Adiponectin (gAd), on induction of gene expression and activation of various signaling pathways in vascular endothelial cells.

Key findings: We showed that gAd induces the expression of a number of genes using PCR arrays, including MCP-1, VCAM-1, E-selectin, IL-6, and IL-8, all of which have been previously shown to be associated with Adiponectin, as well as SOD2, PAI-1, and CSF2, which is a new finding. We also demonstrated that gAd activates AMPK, Akt, and NF-kB, as well as various MAPKs, including ERK1/2, JNK, and p38MAPK.

Significance: Upstream regulation of gene expression might involve two or more activated pathways which interact with one another.