LPS induces selective translocation of protein kinase C-beta in LPS-responsive mouse macrophages, but not in LPS-nonresponsive mouse macrophages.

Translocation of protein kinase C (PKC) after PMA or LPS stimulation has been studied in thioglycolate (TGC)-elicited murine peritoneal macrophages. Among the PKC subtypes we examined (alpha, beta, gamma, delta, and epsilon) by indirect immunostaining and immunoblot analysis, conventional PKC-beta, as well as novel PKC-delta and PKC-epsilon were found to exist in TGC-elicited C3H/HeN mouse macrophages. Translocation of PKC-beta to the Triton-stable cytoskeleton could be seen in macrophages after stimulation by both PMA and LPS. On the other hand, novel PKCs redistributed only after PMA stimulation. Macrophages obtained from LPS-nonresponsive C3H/HeJ mice also exhibited PKC-beta, and the m.w., cellular distribution, and cellular content of this enzyme could not be distinguished from those of C3H/HeN macrophages. These macrophages exhibited PKC-delta and PKC-epsilon, as did the C3H/HeN macrophages. In these macrophages, however, LPS did not induce any remarkable change in the intracellular distribution of PKC-delta and PKC-epsilon or PKC-beta, whereas PMA was able to induce the translocation of PKC-beta to the cytoskeleton. These results suggest that LPS stimulation induces selective redistribution of PKC-beta in LPS-responsive macrophages, whereas a defect related to LPS unresponsiveness exists in C3H/HeJ mouse macrophages before the PKC activation. Translocation of PKC-beta can be understood to be an important event in LPS signaling in macrophages.