Cationic ribosomal proteins can inhibit pro-inflammatory action stimulated by LPS+HMGB1 and are hindered by advanced glycation end products.

We previously found that ribosomal protein L9 (RPL9) is a novel advanced glycation end product (AGE)-binding protein that can decrease pro-inflammatory TNF-α expression stimulated by lipopolysaccharide (LPS) plus high-mobility group box 1 (HMGB1), suggesting that RPL9 has a role in regulating LPS+HMGB1-stimulated inflammatory reactions. Among the various ribosomal proteins, it was found that RPS5 reproduced the regulatory activity of RPL9 on LPS+HMGB1-stimulated TNF-α expression in macrophage-like RAW264.7 cells. RPL9 and RPS5 share a common feature as cationic proteins. Polylysine, a cationic polypeptide, and a synthetic peptide of the cationic region from RPL9 also exhibited reducing activity on LPS+HMGB1-induced TNF-α expression. By pull-down assay, RPL9 and RPS5 were confirmed to interact with AGEs. When AGEs coexisted with LPS, HMGB1, plus RPL9 or RPS5, the reducing effect of TNF-α expression by these cationic ribosomal proteins was shown to be abrogated. The results suggest that cationic ribosomal proteins have a regulatory role in the pro-inflammatory response induced by LPS+HMGB1, and in the pathophysiological condition of accumulating AGEs, this regulatory effect is abolished, which exacerbates inflammation.