Skeletal muscle wasting, exercise intolerance and insulin resistance contribute significantly to morbidity and mortality whereas exercise training improves muscle function, circumventing these pathologies. Activation of p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) in adult skeletal muscle has been implicated in these opposing processes, but the underlying mechanism remains elusive. We have recently shown that muscle-specific p383 knockout mice (p383 MKO), but not p381 or p382 MKO, had significantly attenuated induction of PGC-11 (peroxisome proliferator receptor 3 co-activator-1) and mitochondrial enzyme expression in response to endurance exercise, and PGC-11 MKO mice phenocopied p383 MKO, indicating the importance of the p383-PGC-11 axis in muscle physiological adaptation. In cultured myotubes, we and others have shown that atrophy induced by the oxidant hydrogen peroxide could be blocked by inhibitors to p381/p382, resulting in attenuated induction of E3 ubiquitin ligases and autophagy-related genes. Together with the previous finding in cultured myotubes that knockdown of p381 attenuates saturated fatty acid-induced insulin resistance, this supports the view that p381/p382 are involved in these pathological processes in skeletal muscle. Two important issues remain to be addressed. First, the underlying mechanism for isoform-specific p38 signaling in adult skeletal muscle is unknown. Second, although we have shown a key role for p383 in exercise-induced muscle adaptation, nothing is known about the function of p38 isoforms in catabolic muscle wasting and insulin resistance. To address these issues, we propose to: 1) define isoform-specific p38 activation in skeletal muscle in vivo; 2) elucidate the functional role of p383 in skeletal muscle in vivo; and 3) ascertain the role of p381/p382 in skeletal muscle dysfunction in vivo. An improved understanding of this extremely important signaling pathway will facilitate the development of new interventions for numerous medical conditions, such as cardiac cachexia and type 2 diabetes that are profoundly influenced by skeletal muscle function.

Public Health Relevance

Previous studies implicate that the p38 mitogen-activated protein kinases in skeletal muscle may play important roles in health and disease. This study will thoroughly investigate the role of different isoforms of p38 in cachexia (severe loss of muscle mass and function) and insulin resistance (decreased sensitivity to insulin produced by pancreas). There are currently no treatments that efficiently reverse these clinically important disorders, and we predict that specific targeting of these different p38 forms will represent new inroads for effective pharmacological interventions.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (NIAMS)
Type
Research Project (R01)
Project #
5R01AR050429-11
Application #
8875611
Study Section
Special Emphasis Panel (ZRG1)
Program Officer
Boyce, Amanda T
Project Start
2003-12-01
Project End
2017-06-30
Budget Start
2015-07-01
Budget End
2017-06-30
Support Year
11
Fiscal Year
2015
Total Cost
Indirect Cost
Name
University of Virginia
Department
Internal Medicine/Medicine
Type
Schools of Medicine
DUNS #
065391526
City
Charlottesville
State
VA
Country
United States
Zip Code
22904
Wilson, Rebecca J; Drake, Joshua C; Cui, Di et al. (2018) Mitochondrial protein S-nitrosation protects against ischemia reperfusion-induced denervation at neuromuscular junction in skeletal muscle. Free Radic Biol Med 117:180-190
Perry, Heather M; Huang, Liping; Wilson, Rebecca J et al. (2018) Dynamin-Related Protein 1 Deficiency Promotes Recovery from AKI. J Am Soc Nephrol 29:194-206
Keller, Alexander S; Diederich, Lukas; Panknin, Christina et al. (2017) Possible roles for ATP release from RBCs exclude the cAMP-mediated Panx1 pathway. Am J Physiol Cell Physiol 313:C593-C603
Leitner, Lucia M; Wilson, Rebecca J; Yan, Zhen et al. (2017) Reactive Oxygen Species/Nitric Oxide Mediated Inter-Organ Communication in Skeletal Muscle Wasting Diseases. Antioxid Redox Signal 26:700-717
Drake, Joshua C; Yan, Zhen (2017) Mitophagy in maintaining skeletal muscle mitochondrial proteostasis and metabolic health with ageing. J Physiol 595:6391-6399
Call, Jarrod A; Wilson, Rebecca J; Laker, Rhianna C et al. (2017) Ulk1-mediated autophagy plays an essential role in mitochondrial remodeling and functional regeneration of skeletal muscle. Am J Physiol Cell Physiol 312:C724-C732
Laker, Rhianna C; Drake, Joshua C; Wilson, Rebecca J et al. (2017) Ampk phosphorylation of Ulk1 is required for targeting of mitochondria to lysosomes in exercise-induced mitophagy. Nat Commun 8:548
Yan, Zhen; Kronemberger, Ana; Blomme, Jay et al. (2017) Exercise leads to unfavourable cardiac remodelling and enhanced metabolic homeostasis in obese mice with cardiac and skeletal muscle autophagy deficiency. Sci Rep 7:7894
Forrester, Steven J; Elliott, Katherine J; Kawai, Tatsuo et al. (2017) Caveolin-1 Deletion Prevents Hypertensive Vascular Remodeling Induced by Angiotensin II. Hypertension 69:79-86
Klionsky, Daniel J (see original citation for additional authors) (2016) Guidelines for the use and interpretation of assays for monitoring autophagy (3rd edition). Autophagy 12:1-222

Showing the most recent 10 out of 49 publications