Skip to main content
PMC home page
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America logoLink to Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America
. 1993 Apr 15;90(8):3491–3495. doi: 10.1073/pnas.90.8.3491

Molecular cloning and expression of inducible nitric oxide synthase from human hepatocytes.

D A Geller 1, C J Lowenstein 1, R A Shapiro 1, A K Nussler 1, M Di Silvio 1, S C Wang 1, D K Nakayama 1, R L Simmons 1, S H Snyder 1, T R Billiar 1
PMCID: PMC46326  PMID: 7682706

Abstract

Nitric oxide is a short-lived biologic mediator for diverse cell types. Synthesis of an inducible nitric oxide synthase (NOS) in murine macrophages is stimulated by lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and interferon gamma. In human hepatocytes, NOS activity is induced by treatment with a combination of tumor necrosis factor, interleukin 1, interferon gamma, and LPS. We now report the molecular cloning and expression of an inducible human hepatocyte NOS (hep-NOS) cDNA. hep-NOS has 80% amino acid sequence homology to macrophage NOS (mac-NOS). Like other NOS isoforms, recognition sites for FMN, FAD, and NADPH are present, as well as a consensus calmodulin binding site. NOS activity in human 293 kidney cells transfected with hep-NOS cDNA is diminished by Ca2+ chelation and a calmodulin antagonist, reflecting a Ca2+ dependence not evident for mac-NOS. Northern blot analysis with hep-NOS cDNA reveals a 4.5-kb mRNA in both human hepatocytes and aortic smooth muscle cells following stimulation with LPS and cytokines. Human genomic Southern blots probed with human hep-NOS and human endothelial NOS cDNA clones display different genomic restriction enzyme fragments, suggesting distinct gene products for these NOS isoforms. hep-NOS appears to be an inducible form of NOS that is distinct from mac-NOS as well as brain and endothelial NOS isozymes.

Full text

PDF
3491

Images in this article

3493Fig. 2
on p.3493
3493Fig. 3
on p.3493
3493Fig. 4
on p.3493

Selected References

These references are in PubMed. This may not be the complete list of references from this article.

  1. Billiar T. R., Curran R. D., Harbrecht B. G., Stuehr D. J., Demetris A. J., Simmons R. L. Modulation of nitrogen oxide synthesis in vivo: NG-monomethyl-L-arginine inhibits endotoxin-induced nitrate/nitrate biosynthesis while promoting hepatic damage. J Leukoc Biol. 1990 Dec;48(6):565–569. doi: 10.1002/jlb.48.6.565. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  2. Billiar T. R., Curran R. D., Stuehr D. J., Stadler J., Simmons R. L., Murray S. A. Inducible cytosolic enzyme activity for the production of nitrogen oxides from L-arginine in hepatocytes. Biochem Biophys Res Commun. 1990 May 16;168(3):1034–1040. doi: 10.1016/0006-291x(90)91133-d. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  3. Billiar T. R., Curran R. D., Stuehr D. J., West M. A., Bentz B. G., Simmons R. L. An L-arginine-dependent mechanism mediates Kupffer cell inhibition of hepatocyte protein synthesis in vitro. J Exp Med. 1989 Apr 1;169(4):1467–1472. doi: 10.1084/jem.169.4.1467. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  4. Bredt D. S., Hwang P. M., Glatt C. E., Lowenstein C., Reed R. R., Snyder S. H. Cloned and expressed nitric oxide synthase structurally resembles cytochrome P-450 reductase. Nature. 1991 Jun 27;351(6329):714–718. doi: 10.1038/351714a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  5. Bredt D. S., Snyder S. H. Isolation of nitric oxide synthetase, a calmodulin-requiring enzyme. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1990 Jan;87(2):682–685. doi: 10.1073/pnas.87.2.682. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  6. Busse R., Mülsch A. Calcium-dependent nitric oxide synthesis in endothelial cytosol is mediated by calmodulin. FEBS Lett. 1990 Jun 4;265(1-2):133–136. doi: 10.1016/0014-5793(90)80902-u. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  7. Caput D., Beutler B., Hartog K., Thayer R., Brown-Shimer S., Cerami A. Identification of a common nucleotide sequence in the 3'-untranslated region of mRNA molecules specifying inflammatory mediators. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1986 Mar;83(6):1670–1674. doi: 10.1073/pnas.83.6.1670. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  8. Cho H. J., Xie Q. W., Calaycay J., Mumford R. A., Swiderek K. M., Lee T. D., Nathan C. Calmodulin is a subunit of nitric oxide synthase from macrophages. J Exp Med. 1992 Aug 1;176(2):599–604. doi: 10.1084/jem.176.2.599. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  9. Chomczynski P., Sacchi N. Single-step method of RNA isolation by acid guanidinium thiocyanate-phenol-chloroform extraction. Anal Biochem. 1987 Apr;162(1):156–159. doi: 10.1006/abio.1987.9999. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  10. Curran R. D., Billiar T. R., Stuehr D. J., Hofmann K., Simmons R. L. Hepatocytes produce nitrogen oxides from L-arginine in response to inflammatory products of Kupffer cells. J Exp Med. 1989 Nov 1;170(5):1769–1774. doi: 10.1084/jem.170.5.1769. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  11. Curran R. D., Billiar T. R., Stuehr D. J., Ochoa J. B., Harbrecht B. G., Flint S. G., Simmons R. L. Multiple cytokines are required to induce hepatocyte nitric oxide production and inhibit total protein synthesis. Ann Surg. 1990 Oct;212(4):462–471. doi: 10.1097/00000658-199010000-00009. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  12. Finkel M. S., Oddis C. V., Jacob T. D., Watkins S. C., Hattler B. G., Simmons R. L. Negative inotropic effects of cytokines on the heart mediated by nitric oxide. Science. 1992 Jul 17;257(5068):387–389. doi: 10.1126/science.1631560. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  13. Garthwaite J., Charles S. L., Chess-Williams R. Endothelium-derived relaxing factor release on activation of NMDA receptors suggests role as intercellular messenger in the brain. Nature. 1988 Nov 24;336(6197):385–388. doi: 10.1038/336385a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  14. Graham F. L., van der Eb A. J. A new technique for the assay of infectivity of human adenovirus 5 DNA. Virology. 1973 Apr;52(2):456–467. doi: 10.1016/0042-6822(73)90341-3. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  15. Green L. C., Wagner D. A., Glogowski J., Skipper P. L., Wishnok J. S., Tannenbaum S. R. Analysis of nitrate, nitrite, and [15N]nitrate in biological fluids. Anal Biochem. 1982 Oct;126(1):131–138. doi: 10.1016/0003-2697(82)90118-x. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  16. Hibbs J. B., Jr, Taintor R. R., Vavrin Z. Macrophage cytotoxicity: role for L-arginine deiminase and imino nitrogen oxidation to nitrite. Science. 1987 Jan 23;235(4787):473–476. doi: 10.1126/science.2432665. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  17. Hibbs J. B., Jr, Westenfelder C., Taintor R., Vavrin Z., Kablitz C., Baranowski R. L., Ward J. H., Menlove R. L., McMurry M. P., Kushner J. P. Evidence for cytokine-inducible nitric oxide synthesis from L-arginine in patients receiving interleukin-2 therapy. J Clin Invest. 1992 Mar;89(3):867–877. doi: 10.1172/JCI115666. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  18. Ignarro L. J., Buga G. M., Wood K. S., Byrns R. E., Chaudhuri G. Endothelium-derived relaxing factor produced and released from artery and vein is nitric oxide. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1987 Dec;84(24):9265–9269. doi: 10.1073/pnas.84.24.9265. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  19. Iida S., Ohshima H., Oguchi S., Hata T., Suzuki H., Kawasaki H., Esumi H. Identification of inducible calmodulin-dependent nitric oxide synthase in the liver of rats. J Biol Chem. 1992 Dec 15;267(35):25385–25388. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  20. Janssens S. P., Shimouchi A., Quertermous T., Bloch D. B., Bloch K. D. Cloning and expression of a cDNA encoding human endothelium-derived relaxing factor/nitric oxide synthase. J Biol Chem. 1992 Jul 25;267(21):14519–14522. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  21. Junquero D. C., Scott-Burden T., Schini V. B., Vanhoutte P. M. Inhibition of cytokine-induced nitric oxide production by transforming growth factor-beta 1 in human smooth muscle cells. J Physiol. 1992 Aug;454:451–465. doi: 10.1113/jphysiol.1992.sp019273. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  22. Kemp B. E., Pearson R. B. Protein kinase recognition sequence motifs. Trends Biochem Sci. 1990 Sep;15(9):342–346. doi: 10.1016/0968-0004(90)90073-k. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  23. Kozak M. An analysis of vertebrate mRNA sequences: intimations of translational control. J Cell Biol. 1991 Nov;115(4):887–903. doi: 10.1083/jcb.115.4.887. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  24. Kreamer B. L., Staecker J. L., Sawada N., Sattler G. L., Hsia M. T., Pitot H. C. Use of a low-speed, iso-density percoll centrifugation method to increase the viability of isolated rat hepatocyte preparations. In Vitro Cell Dev Biol. 1986 Apr;22(4):201–211. doi: 10.1007/BF02623304. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  25. Lamas S., Marsden P. A., Li G. K., Tempst P., Michel T. Endothelial nitric oxide synthase: molecular cloning and characterization of a distinct constitutive enzyme isoform. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1992 Jul 15;89(14):6348–6352. doi: 10.1073/pnas.89.14.6348. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  26. Lowenstein C. J., Glatt C. S., Bredt D. S., Snyder S. H. Cloned and expressed macrophage nitric oxide synthase contrasts with the brain enzyme. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1992 Aug 1;89(15):6711–6715. doi: 10.1073/pnas.89.15.6711. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  27. Lyons C. R., Orloff G. J., Cunningham J. M. Molecular cloning and functional expression of an inducible nitric oxide synthase from a murine macrophage cell line. J Biol Chem. 1992 Mar 25;267(9):6370–6374. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  28. Marsden P. A., Schappert K. T., Chen H. S., Flowers M., Sundell C. L., Wilcox J. N., Lamas S., Michel T. Molecular cloning and characterization of human endothelial nitric oxide synthase. FEBS Lett. 1992 Aug 3;307(3):287–293. doi: 10.1016/0014-5793(92)80697-f. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  29. Moncada S., Palmer R. M., Higgs E. A. Nitric oxide: physiology, pathophysiology, and pharmacology. Pharmacol Rev. 1991 Jun;43(2):109–142. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  30. Nakayama D. K., Geller D. A., Lowenstein C. J., Chern H. D., Davies P., Pitt B. R., Simmons R. L., Billiar T. R. Cytokines and lipopolysaccharide induce nitric oxide synthase in cultured rat pulmonary artery smooth muscle. Am J Respir Cell Mol Biol. 1992 Nov;7(5):471–476. doi: 10.1165/ajrcmb/7.5.471. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  31. Nathan C. Nitric oxide as a secretory product of mammalian cells. FASEB J. 1992 Sep;6(12):3051–3064. [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  32. Nishida K., Harrison D. G., Navas J. P., Fisher A. A., Dockery S. P., Uematsu M., Nerem R. M., Alexander R. W., Murphy T. J. Molecular cloning and characterization of the constitutive bovine aortic endothelial cell nitric oxide synthase. J Clin Invest. 1992 Nov;90(5):2092–2096. doi: 10.1172/JCI116092. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  33. Nussler A. K., Di Silvio M., Billiar T. R., Hoffman R. A., Geller D. A., Selby R., Madariaga J., Simmons R. L. Stimulation of the nitric oxide synthase pathway in human hepatocytes by cytokines and endotoxin. J Exp Med. 1992 Jul 1;176(1):261–264. doi: 10.1084/jem.176.1.261. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  34. Ochoa J. B., Curti B., Peitzman A. B., Simmons R. L., Billiar T. R., Hoffman R., Rault R., Longo D. L., Urba W. J., Ochoa A. C. Increased circulating nitrogen oxides after human tumor immunotherapy: correlation with toxic hemodynamic changes. J Natl Cancer Inst. 1992 Jun 3;84(11):864–867. doi: 10.1093/jnci/84.11.864. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  35. Ochoa J. B., Udekwu A. O., Billiar T. R., Curran R. D., Cerra F. B., Simmons R. L., Peitzman A. B. Nitrogen oxide levels in patients after trauma and during sepsis. Ann Surg. 1991 Nov;214(5):621–626. doi: 10.1097/00000658-199111000-00013. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  36. Palmer R. M., Ferrige A. G., Moncada S. Nitric oxide release accounts for the biological activity of endothelium-derived relaxing factor. Nature. 1987 Jun 11;327(6122):524–526. doi: 10.1038/327524a0. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  37. Salter M., Knowles R. G., Moncada S. Widespread tissue distribution, species distribution and changes in activity of Ca(2+)-dependent and Ca(2+)-independent nitric oxide synthases. FEBS Lett. 1991 Oct 7;291(1):145–149. doi: 10.1016/0014-5793(91)81123-p. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  38. Shaw G., Kamen R. A conserved AU sequence from the 3' untranslated region of GM-CSF mRNA mediates selective mRNA degradation. Cell. 1986 Aug 29;46(5):659–667. doi: 10.1016/0092-8674(86)90341-7. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  39. Stuehr D. J., Marletta M. A. Mammalian nitrate biosynthesis: mouse macrophages produce nitrite and nitrate in response to Escherichia coli lipopolysaccharide. Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 1985 Nov;82(22):7738–7742. doi: 10.1073/pnas.82.22.7738. [DOI] [PMC free article] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]
  40. Xie Q. W., Cho H. J., Calaycay J., Mumford R. A., Swiderek K. M., Lee T. D., Ding A., Troso T., Nathan C. Cloning and characterization of inducible nitric oxide synthase from mouse macrophages. Science. 1992 Apr 10;256(5054):225–228. doi: 10.1126/science.1373522. [DOI] [PubMed] [Google Scholar]

Articles from Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America are provided here courtesy of National Academy of Sciences

RESOURCES