Mechanotransduction by integrin is essential for IL-6 secretion from endothelial cells in response to uniaxial continuous stretch.

We previously reported that uniaxial continuous stretch in human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) induced interleukin-6 (IL-6) secretion via IκB kinase (IKK)/nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) activation. The aim of the present study was to clarify the upstream signaling mechanism responsible for this phenomenon. Stretch-induced IKK activation and IL-6 secretion were inhibited by application of α5β1 integrin-inhibitory peptide (GRGDNP), phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase inhibitor (LY-294002), phospholipase C-γ inhibitor (U-73122), or protein kinase C inhibitor (H7). Although depletion of intra- or extracellular Ca2+ pool using thapsigargin (TG) or EGTA, respectively, showed little effect, a TG-EGTA mixture significantly inhibited stretch-induced IKK activation and IL-6 secretion. An increase in the intracellular Ca2+ concentration ([Ca2+]i) upon continuous stretch was observed even in the presence of TG, EGTA, or GRGDNP, but not in a solution containing the TG-EGTA mixture, indicating that both integrin activ...