Expressão e regulação da quinase celular intestinal (ICK) em modelo de desnutrição in vivo e in vitro

Abstract

Malnutrition can affect the intestinal architecture, causing mucosal atrophy and compromising epithelial turnover. Although the gut is able to compensatorily respond to malnutrition, the molecular mechanisms by which the gut responds to protein deprivation are not completely understood. The intestinal cell kinase (ICK) is a highly conserved serine/threonine protein and a novel component of the signaling pathways that regulate cell proliferation in the intestinal crypt. In order to evaluate the role of the intestinal compensatory response to protein deprivation mediated by ICK, the activation of molecular pathways related to cell proliferation and survival were measured in C57BL/6J mice subjected to low protein diet (containing 2% protein) for five days and received standard chow-fed controls. We analyzed the intestinal canonical Wnt/β-catenin pathway, mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR), mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) and protein kinase B (PKB/Akt) by immunoblotting. We also measured the expression of intestinal stem cells markers (LGR-5 and Bmi1). We also conducted an in vitro study using human ileocecal adenocarcinoma cells (HCT-8) starved with low serum (0-1%) to evaluate the ICK response with or without gut trophic factors, such as glutamine (2 mM), alanyl-glutamine (10 and 50mM), and zinc (10 and 50μM), casein and bovine serum albumin (BSA) at a concentration of 0.25 or 0.5% in the medium, respectively. We also assessed ICK mRNA transcript by q-PCR after protein deprivation. In order to evaluate the effect of this kinase on cell proliferation and apoptosis, the ICK gene was silenced using interference RNA in HCT-8 cells. Cell viability was measured by trypan blue exclusion. Furthermore, caspase 3 and 9, cleaved PARP, analyzed by western blot, and annexin V, measured by flow cytometry, were used to assess apoptosis. In order to measure ICK effect on cell proliferation, we analyzed Wnt/β-catenin and cyclin D1 pathways by western blot. We identified a significant and transient increase in ICK intestinal levels following low-protein induced malnutrition, concomitant with the activation of molecular pathways related to proliferation and survival, as well as increased expression of intestinal stem cell markers. This work also documented that the protein deprivation, induced by low serum concentration, increased the expression of ICK in HCT-8 cells, an effect that was reversed by BSA in the medium. This reverse effect was not seen with other compounds such as glutamine, alanyl-glutamine or zinc. Despite the increase in ICK expression after protein deprivation, no significant difference in its transcripts was found, when compared with controls. The silencing of the ICK gene significantly decreased Wnt/β-catenin and cyclin D1 signaling activation in HCT-8 cells with increased apoptosis by a caspase dependent mechanism. Our results suggest that the increased ICK expression in response to protein deprivation is a protective mechanism that limits cell apoptosis and supports epithelial cell proliferation following malnutrition. Keywords: Malnutrition. Protein deprivation. Intestinal cell kinase. β