Glycoprotein 130 regulates cardiac myocyte survival in doxorubicin-induced apoptosis through phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase/Akt phosphorylation and Bcl-xL/caspase-3 interaction.

BACKGROUND: We recently reported that the activation of glycoprotein (gp) 130 by leukemia inhibitory factor (LIF) upregulates Bcl-xL and exerts antiapoptotic effects in cardiac myocytes. In addition, LIF induces activation of phosphatidylinositol (PI) 3-kinase and Akt, which are known to be required for cell survival. However, their regulatory roles in cell death remain unknown.

METHODS AND RESULTS: We investigated the fate of these proteins and the cytoprotective effects of LIF on doxorubicin (DOX)-induced apoptosis in cultured neonatal rat cardiac myocytes. Myocyte apoptosis increased significantly in DOX-treated cells but was significantly reduced by LIF pretreatment. The kinase activities of PI 3-kinase and Akt declined below basal levels but were partially recovered with LIF. Moreover, DOX-induced caspase-3 activation and decrease in Bcl-xL abundance are completely inhibited by LIF and caspase inhibitor. LIF phosphorylates Bad through PI 3-kinase and reduces the heterodimerization of Bad with Bcl-xL. Adenovirus transfer of the constitutively active form of Akt to cardiac myocytes restored cardiac myocyte survival after DOX treatment. Conversely, the dominant-negative form of Akt inhibited LIF-induced increase in cell viability and suppression of caspase-9 activation.

CONCLUSIONS: Activation of gp130 inhibits DOX-induced cell death in cardiac myocytes, resulting in the restoration of PI 3-kinase/Akt activities and in the inactivation of caspase-3, leading to facilitation of the protective function of Bcl-xL.