Functional antagonism of IL-1alpha induced gene expression profiles define the cAMP/PKA pathway as a unique regulator of IL-1alpha signaling networks.

Interleukin-1 (IL-1 alpha) induced inflammatory and pro-fibrotic responses in human lung fibroblasts are mediated by activation of MAPK and NF kappa B pathways. The purpose of the present study was to broadly profile the activity of a variety of compounds which function as inhibitors of these key signaling pathways that may affect IL-1 alpha mediated gene changes. A reference set of genes was derived from microarray analysis of IL-1 alpha stimulated cells. The genes were chosen to provide a range of expression profiles which serve to represent the actions of the underlying signaling network. We show that G(s)-coupled receptor agonists have a unique pattern of activity as represented by their impact on IL-1 alpha dependent gene changes. These effects were not mimicked by direct inhibitors of p38, JNK, MEK or IKK but were mimicked by forskolin and cAMP analogs. These findings indicate that cAMP/PKA serves as a point of convergence for regulation of IL-1 alpha responses by multiple G(s)-coupled receptors and regulates IL-1 alpha responses by a distinct mechanism that does not solely involve direct inhibition of p38, JNK, MEK or IKK. The data also point to a potentially useful paradigm wherein monitoring of a small subset of genes is sufficient to identify pathway activity of novel compounds.