The Proinflammatory Actions of Angiotensin II Are Dependent on p65 Phosphorylation by the IκB Kinase Complex

Abstract The vasoactive hormone angiotensin II (Ang II) probably triggers inflammatory cardiovascular diseases by activating transcription factors such as NF-κB. We describe here a novel mode of NF-κB activation in cultured vascular smooth muscle cells exposed to Ang II. Ang II treatment resulted in an increase in the phosphotransferase activity of the IKK complex, which was mediated through the AT1 receptor subtype. The typical phosphorylation and proteasome-dependent degradation of the NF-κB inhibitor IκBα were not observed. Rather, Ang II treatment of vascular smooth muscle cells led to the phosphorylation of p65 on serine 536, a signal detected in both the cytoplasm and the nuclear compartments. The use of pharmacological inhibitors that inhibit the activation of MEK by Ang II revealed that phosphorylation of p65 on serine 536 did not require the MEK-ERK-RSK signaling pathway. On the other hand, specifically targeting the IKKβ subunit of the IKK complex by overexpression of a dominant negative version of IKKβ (IKKβ K44A) or silencing RNA technology demonstrated that the IKKβ subunit of the IKK complex was responsible for the detected phosphoserine 536 signal in Ang II-treated cells. Characterization of the signaling pathway leading to activation of the IKK complex by Ang II revealed that neither epidermal growth factor receptor transactivation nor the phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase-AKT signaling cascade were involved. Collectively, our data demonstrate that the proinflammatory activity of Ang II is independent of the classical pathway leading to IκBα phosphorylation and degradation but clearly depends on the recruitment of an IKK complex signaling cascade leading to phosphorylation of p65 on serine 536.