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/Smad signaling pathway following polyamine depletion in intestinal epithelial cells
1 Department of Sugery, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, USA; Baltimore Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Baltimore, Maryland, USA
2 Department of Sugery, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, USA; Baltimore Veterans Affairs Medical Center, Baltimore, Maryland, USA; Department of Pathology, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, Maryland, USA
* To whom correspondence should be addressed. E-mail: jwang{at}smail.umaryland.edu.
Smad proteins are transcription activators that are critical for transmitting transforming growth factor-
(TGF-
) superfamily signals from the cell-surface receptors to the nucleus. Our previous studies have shown that cellular polyamines are essential for normal intestinal mucosal growth and that a decreased level of polyamines inhibits intestinal epithelial cell proliferation, at least partially, by increasing expression of TGF-
/TGF-
receptors. The current study went further to determine the possibility that Smads are the downstream intracellular effectors of activated TGF-
/TGF-
receptor signaling following polyamine depletion. Studies were conducted in IEC-6 cells derived from rat small intestinal crypts. Depletion of cellular polyamines by
-difluoromethylornithine (DFMO) increased basal levels of Smad3 and Smad4 proteins, induced their nuclear translocation, and stimulated Smad sequence-specific DNA-binding activity. Polyamine depletion-induced Smads also were associated with a significant increase in transcription activation as measured by luciferase reporter gene activity of Smad-dependent promoters. Inhibition of Smads by a dominant negative mutant Smad4 in the DFMO-treated cells prevented the increased Smad transcription activation. Polyamine-deficient cells highly expressed TGF-
and were growth-arrested at the G1 phase. Inhibition of TGF-
by treatment with either immunoneutralizing anti-TGF-
antibody or TGF-
antisense oligodeoxyribonucleotides not only blocked the induction of Smad activity, but also decreased the Smad-mediated transcriptional activation in polyamine-depleted cells. These findings suggest that Smads are involved in the downstream cellular processes mediated by cellular polyamines and that increased TGF-
/TGF-
receptor signaling following polyamine depletion activates Smads, thus resulting in the stimulation of Smad-target gene expression.
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