Proteomic investigation of the molecular targets of mycophenolic acid in human cells

Mycophenolic acid (MPA) is a potent inhibitor of inosine monophosphate dehydrogenase (IMPDH), a key regulator of purine biosynthesis. MPA is frequently used as an immunosuppressant drug to prevent acute graft rejection for kidney, liver and lung transplantation. The use of MPA is associated with GI toxicity which is a problem to the patients, and a challenge for clinicians. The present study was undertaken to identify novel molecular targets of MPA using a proteomics approach. Two dimensional gel electrophoresis (2-DE) and mass spectrometry were used to identify proteome alterations in human embryonic cells (HEK-293) following exposure to therapeutic concentrations of MPA. Cells were treated for 72 hours, and total cell lysate was resolved by 2-DE followed by QTOF-MS/MS analysis of all identified differentially regulated proteins. A total of 12 proteins were differentially regulated in HEK-293 cells following exposure to MPA. Among these, 7 proteins were up-regulated (complement component 1 Q subcomponent-binding protein, electron transfer flavoprotein subunit beta, cytochrome b-c1 complex subunit, peroxiredoxin 1, thioredoxin domain-containing protein 12, myosin regulatory light chain 2, and profilin 1), while 5 proteins were down-regulated (protein SET, stathmin, 40S ribosomal protein S12, histone H2B type 1 A, and histone H2B type 1-C/E/F/G/I). Functional annotation tool analysis showed that MPA modulated proteins were mainly involved in the cytoskeleton (26%), chromatin structure/dynamics (17%), and energy production/conversion (17%). Considering both putative functions and their clinical significance, peroxiredoxin-1 (Prdx-1) and myosin light chain 2 (MLC2) were selected for Western blot and real time PCR analysis. Both proteins showed up-regulation at mRNA as well as at protein level following MPA exposure.MLC2 is known to be involved in several functions including tight junctions (TJ) regulation. Epithelial barrier disruption by phosphorylation of MLC2 has been implicated in several bowel diseases. Since MPA treatment often causes diarrhea when used clinically, we hypothesized that MPA regulated epithelial TJ by modulation of MLC2. To test this hypothesis, we investigated the effect of MPA on the expression of MLC2 in two colonic cell lines, HT-29 and Caco-2. Increased MLC2 expression was observed in both cell lines following MPA exposure. These findings suggest that the increase in MLC2 expression after exposure to MPA is not a cell specific effect. Moreover, we observed similar up-regulation of MLC2 expression in whole cell lysates prepared from MMF treated rats, which implies that MPA has similar effects both in vitro and in vivo. We then used Caco-2 cells grown for 21 days post confluence to develop polarize monolayers to conduct physiological, expressional and microscopic analysis to establish the possible role of MPA in disruption of TJ. MPA exposure caused a time and dose dependent decreases in transepithelial resistance (TER), and increases in the FITC-dextran 4 KDa (FD4) paracellular influx in these Caco-2 monolayers. In addition, we found that AcMPAG (a pharmacologically active metabolite of MPA) was also able to cause decreases in TER and increases in FD4 influx. These MPA and AcMPAG mediated increases in permeability were not due to cellular toxicity, as shown by the fact that no significant apoptosis or cell death was observed. In MPA and AcMPAG treated cells, we also found altered expression and distribution of TJ proteins (ZO-1 and occludin). Since MLC phosphorylation is a key modulator of TJ disruption; we investigated whether MPA also increased MLC2 phosphorylation. Using immunoblot analysis we found that MPA significantly increased MLC2 phosphorylation. We then investigated whether MPA mediated increases in MLC2 phosphorylation was through effects on MLCK. Immunoblot analysis revealed that MPA increased MLCK expression both at mRNA and protein levels. To further confirm that MLCK was the key player in MPA mediated MLC2 phosphorylation and its associated TJ disruption, we pre-incubated cells with ML-7 (a specific MLCK inhibitor), and observed that ML-7 was able to partially prevent the MPA mediated increase in MLC2 phosphorylation. Furthermore, we found that ML-7 partially reversed MPA mediated decreases in TER, and increases in FD4 paracellular influx. ML-7 also prevented the MPA associated disruption of the distribution and expression of TJ proteins. These findings suggest that MPA may regulate TJ function via MLCK-driven MLC2 phosphorylation. However, these results do not exclude the possibility that other pathways may also be involved in MPA induced regulation of TJ function. Taking together findings of the present studies showed that therapeutic concentrations of MPA can modulate the expression of important proteins which are crucial for various cellular functions. MPA may modulate epithelial TJ integrity via MLC2 phosphorylation. These findings will be helpful to understand the molecular mechanisms of MPA-induced proteome alterations, including proteins that are involved in disruption of TJ. Further studies are needed to clarify the mechanism(s) and consequences of MPA mediated disruption of TJs, especially in in vivo models, to know whether these TJ barrier changes are responsible for the GI adverse events associated with MPA treatment.