[Effects of mitogen activated protein kinase signal transduction pathways on heat shock protein 70 gene expression in endothelial cells exposed to benzo(a)pryene].

Objective: To investigate the effects of mitogen activated protein kinase (MAPK) signal transduction pathways on heat shock protein 70 (HSP70) gene expression in endothelial cells exposed to benzo(a)pryene (BaP).

Methods: Porcine aortic endothelial cells were pre-treated or by PD98059 (10 micro mol/L) or SB203580 (20 micro mol/L) for 1 hour, then treated with different concentrations of BaP (0, 0.1, 0.5, 1.0, 5.0 and 10.0 micro mol/L) for 24 hours respectively;Expression levels of three phosphorylated MAPKs [extracellular signal regulated protein kinase (ERK), c-Jun amino-terminal kinase (JNK), and p38] and HSP70 were determined by Western-blot.

Results: The three phosphorylated MAPKs expressional levels especially p-ERK1 had different extents of changes with dose-response relationship under BaP exposure. BaP inhibited the expression of HSP70, which significantly decreased in medium and high dose group (>or= 1.0 micro mol/L) but did not decrease in control group (P < 0.05). Although the inhibitor of ERK (PD98059) could partly weaken the inhibited effects of BaP on HSP70 expression, HSP70 expression levels of endothelial cells pre-treated with PD98059 were still significantly lower than that of control cells (P < 0.05).

Conclusion: ERK1 pathway might play some roles in HSP70 gene expression in endothelial cells exposed to BaP, and other unknown signal pathways might also have some effects on this process.