Methylglyoxal-modified proteins are RAGE ligands. (A)
In the top
panel, MGO-BSA-stimulated activation of RAGE increases JNK phosphorylation
(p-JNK) relative to that with BSA alone in human alveolar epithelial
cells, A549. The bottom panel shows the JNK loading control. (B) In
the top panel, decreasing the level of RAGE expression by adding RAGE
si-RNA reduces MGO-BSA-stimulated activation of pJNK relative to nonspecific
scramble si-RNA in A549 cells. The bottom panel is the JNK loading
control. (C) RAGE si-RNA specifically reduces RAGE overexpression
in A549 cells relative to scramble si-RNA. The bottom panel is the
GAPDH loading control. (D) MGO-BSA binds to the V domain. MG-H1, MG-H2,
and MG-H3 (left to right, respectively) compete with MGO-BSA for the
V domain in ELISAs. Kd, R2, and IC50 are the dissociation constant,
Pearson’s correlation coefficient, and the half-maximal inhibitory
concentration, respectively. (E) Before MG-H1.