Submitted April 28, 2004
Accepted August 5, 2004
Evidence that Genetic Deletion of the TNF Receptor p60 or p80 in Macrophages Modulates RANKL-Induced Signaling
Yasunari Takada and Bharat B Aggarwal*
Cytokine Research Laboratory, Department of Bioimmunotherapy, University of Texas M. D. Anderson Cancer Center, Houston, TX, USA
* Corresponding author; email: aggarwal{at}mdanderson.org.
In the current report, we investigated the possibility of a cross-talk between RANKL and TNF-
using macrophage cell lines derived from wild-type mice and from mice with genetic deletion of the type 1 TNF receptor (p60-/-), the type 2 TNF receptor (p80-/-), or both receptors (p60-/-p80-/-). Deletion of TNF receptors sensitized the cells to RANKL-induced NF-
B activation, in order from least to most sensitive of p60-/- < p80-/- < p60-/-p80-/-. The effect on NF-
B activation correlated with RANKL-induced I
B
kinase activation. Deletion of both TNF receptors also potentiated RANKL-induced JNK, ERK1/2, and p38 MAPK activations in a dose- and time-dependent manner. NO production and expression of iNOS and COX-2 induced by RANKL was also maximally induced in double-knockout cells. RANKL had no effect on the proliferation of wild-type cells, but deletion of TNF receptors induced growth modulatory effects. We also found that TRAF6, which mediates RANKL signaling, was constitutively bound to RANK in TNF receptor-deleted cells but not in wild-type cells and this binding was enhanced by RANKL. Overall our results show that RANKL signaling is modulated by the TNF receptors and thus provide evidence of cross-talk between the receptors of two cytokines.