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J. Biol. Chem., Vol. 283, Issue 20, 13586-13600, May 16, 2008

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The Proinflammatory Cytokine, Interleukin-6, Up-regulates Calcium-sensing Receptor Gene Transcription via Stat1/3 and Sp1/3^*

From the Departments of Medicine, Physiology, and Human Genetics, McGill University and Calcium Research Laboratory and Hormones and Cancer Research Unit, Royal Victoria Hospital, Montreal, Quebec H3A 1A1, Canada

Increased expression of the calcium-sensing receptor (CASR), which controls blood calcium homeostasis, leads to a decrease in the extracellular calcium set-point, thereby reducing parathyroid hormone secretion and renal calcium reabsorption and increasing calcitonin secretion resulting in reduced circulating calcium levels. Critically ill patients with elevated proinflammatory cytokine levels commonly have hypocalcemia, although the mechanism is not known. After intraperitoneal injection of interleukin (IL)-6 in the rat, circulating levels of parathyroid hormone, 1,25-dihydroxyvitamin D, and calcium fell within hours and remained low at 24 h. Expression of CASR (mRNA and protein) increased within hours in parathyroid, thyroid, and kidney and remained elevated at 24 h. The CASR gene has two promoters (P1 and P2) yielding transcripts having alternative 5'-untranslated regions but encoding the same receptor protein. Activities of P1 and P2 promoter/luciferase reporter constructs were stimulated 2–3-fold by IL-6 in proximal tubule HKC cells and TT thyroid C-cells. Studies with P1 deleted and mutated promoter-reporter and Stat1 and/or Stat3 dominant-negative constructs showed that a Stat1/3 element downstream of the P1 start site accounted for the IL-6 induction. There are no Stat elements in the P2 promoter, but Sp1/3 elements are clustered at the transcription start site. A series of transfection P2 promoter-reporter analyses showed that Sp1 together with Stat1/3 was critical for IL-6 responsiveness of P2. By oligonucleotide precipitation assay, IL-6 rapidly promoted a complex containing both Sp1/3 and Stat1/3 on the Sp1/3 elements. In conclusion, Stat1/3 directly controls promoter P1, and the Stats indirectly regulate promoter P2 via Sp1/3 in response to IL-6. By this mechanism, the cytokine likely contributes to altered extracellular calcium homeostasis.

Received for publication, September 27, 2007 , and in revised form, February 13, 2008.

^* This work was supported in part by Canadian Institutes of Health Research Grants MOP-86581 and MOP-57730 (to G. N. H.). The costs of publication of this article were defrayed in part by the payment of page charges. This article must therefore be hereby marked "advertisement" in accordance with 18 U.S.C. Section 1734 solely to indicate this fact.

¹ Recipient of a biomedical fellowship from the Kidney Foundation of Canada.

² To whom correspondence should be addressed: Calcium Research Laboratory, Rm. H4.67, Royal Victoria Hospital, 687 Pine Ave. West, Montreal, Quebec H3A 1A1, Canada. Tel.: 514-843-1632; Fax: 514-843-1712; E-mail: geoffrey.hendy{at}mcgill.ca.