Homocysteine-responsive ATF3 gene expression in human vascular endothelial cells: activation of c-Jun NH(2)-terminal kinase and promoter response element.

Activating transcription factor (ATF) 3 is a member of ATF/cyclic adenosine monophosphate (cAMP)-responsive element binding protein (ATF/CREB) family of transcription factors and functions as a stress-inducible transcriptional repressor. To understand the stress-induced gene regulation by homocysteine, we investigated activation of the ATF3 gene in human endothelial cells. Homocysteine caused a rapid induction of ATF3 at the transcriptional level. This induction was preceded by a rapid and sustained activation of c-Jun NH(2)-terminal kinase/stress-activated protein kinase (JNK/SAPK), and dominant negative mitogen-activated protein kinase kinase 4 and 7 abolished these effects. The effect of homocysteine appeared to be specific, because cysteine or homocystine had no appreciable effect, but it was mimicked by dithiothreitol and beta-mercaptoethanol as well as tunicamycin. The homocysteine effect was not inhibited by an active oxygen scavenger. Deletion analysis of the 5' flanking sequence of the ATF3 gene promoter revealed that one of the major elements responsible for the induction by homocysteine is an ATF/cAMP responsive element (CRE) located at -92 to -85 relative to the transcriptional start site. Gel shift, immunoprecipitation, and cotransfection assays demonstrated that a complex (or complexes) containing ATF2, c-Jun, and ATF3 increased binding to the ATF/CRE site in the homocysteine-treated cells and activated the ATF3 gene expression, while ATF3 appeared to repress its own promoter. These data together suggested a novel pathway by which homocysteine causes the activation of JNK/SAPK and subsequent ATF3 expression through its reductive stress. Activation of JNK/SAPK and ATF3 expression in response to homocysteine may have a functional role in homocysteinemia-associated endothelial dysfunction.