Tyrosine kinase inhibitors suppress endotoxin- and IL-1β-induced NO synthesis in aortic smooth muscle cells

Nitric oxide (NO) formation via the expression of an endotoxin- and cytokine-inducible NO synthase (iNOS) within the vascular smooth muscle is thought to be responsible for the cardiovascular collapse that occurs during septic shock and antitumor therapy with cytokines. Because the molecular mechanisms that underlie induction of iNOS are still unclear and because tyrosine kinases are implicated in interleukin-1β (IL-1β)-induced prostaglandin synthesis in mesangial cells and in NO generation by an insulinoma cell line, we investigated the influence of tyrosine kinase inhibitors on iNOS induction in cultured rat aortic smooth muscle cells (RASMC). The production of biologically active NO was demonstrated by L- arginine-dependent guanosine 3',5'-cyclic monophosphate (cGMP) accumulation after a 3-h exposure to either IL-1β or lipopolysaccharide (LPS). Pretreatment of RASMC for 30 min with the tyrosine kinase inhibitor genistein prevented both IL-1β- and LPS-elicited cGMP accumulation in a concentration- dependent manner. Geldanamycin, a chemically different tyrosine kinase inhibitor, also blocked cGMP formation in response to both LPS and IL-1β at nanomolar concentrations. Genistein and geldanamycin inhibited cGMP accumulation even when added 90 min after LPS exposure, but no inhibition was observed when they were included at later time points (120-180 min), suggesting that the inhibitors had no direct effect on iNOS activity after its induction. Formation of cGMP in response to sodium nitroprusside and to NO released from bovine aortic endothelial cells remained virtually unaffected by genistein and geldanamycin. Thus a tyrosine kinase may selectively participate in the signaling pathway required for both endotoxin and IL-1β to induce the expression of iNOS to generate NO and cGMP in vascular smooth muscle cells.