Upregulation of TNF-α by Triglycerides is Mediated by MEK1 Activation in Jurkat T Cells

Triglyceride (TG) is known to be associated with inflammatory disease including atherosclerosis. In a variety of atherosclerosis models, T lymphocytes are localized in the earliest lesions of atherosclerosis. T cell associated cytokines such as $TNF-{\alpha}$ and $IFN-{\gamma}$ have pre-dominant inflammatory effects in chronic vascular diseases. In our previous study, we found that the expression of $TNF-{\alpha}$ and its receptor, $TNF-{\alpha}R$ was increased when Jurkat T lymphocyte cell lines were exposed to TGs. Therefore, experiments were conducted to determine which cell signaling pathway are involved in the increase of $TNF-{\alpha}$ and $TNF-{\alpha}R$ expression by TGs. To identify signal transduction pathways involved in TG-induced upregulation of $TNF-{\alpha}$, we treated TG-exposed Jurkat T cells with specific inhibitors for MEK1, PI3K, $NF-{\kappa}B$ and PKC. We found that inhibition of the MEK1 pathway blocked TG-induced upregulation of $TNF-{\alpha}$. However, the expression level of $TNF-{\alpha}R$ did not change with any signal transduction inhibitor. Based on this observation, we suggest that increase of exogenous TG induces increase of $TNF-{\alpha}$ expression through MEK1 pathway in Jurkat T cells. In addition, it was confirmed that the increase of $TNF-{\alpha}$ and $TNF-{\alpha}R$ expression by TGs occurs via different pathways.