Ether-linked diglycerides inhibit vascular smooth muscle cell growth via decreased MAPK and PI3K/Akt signaling.
Abstract
Diglycerides (DGs) are phospholipid-derived second messengers that regulate PKC-dependent signaling pathways. Distinct species of DGs are generated from inflammatory cytokines and growth factors. Growth factors increase diacyl- but not ether-linked DG species, whereas inflammatory cytokines predominately generate alkyl, acyl- and alkenyl, acyl-linked DG species in rat mesenchymal cells. These DG species have been shown to differentially regulate protein kinase C (PKC) isotypes. Ester-linked diacylglycerols activate PKC-epsilon and cellular proliferation in contrast to ether-linked DGs, which lead to growth arrest through the inactivation of PKC-epsilon. It is now hypothesized that ether-linked DGs inhibit mitogenesis through the inactivation of ERK and/or Akt signaling cascades. We demonstrate that cell-permeable ether-linked DGs reduce vascular smooth muscle cell growth by inhibiting platelet-derived growth factor-stimulated ERK in a PKC-epsilon-dependent manner. This inhibition is specific to the ERK pathway, since ether-linked DGs do not affect growth factor-induced activation of other family members of the MAPKs, including p38 MAPK and c-Jun NH(2)-terminal kinases. We also demonstrate that ether-linked DGs reduce prosurviva...Continue Reading
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