Addition of NADH, but not NAD
+ or NADPH, to rat liver plasma membranes resulted in the increase of their 5'-nucleotidase activity. NADH-dependent activation of 5'-nucleotidase was significantly ...suppressed by atebrine, an inhibitor Of NADH dehydrogenase of plasma membranes, and completely abolished by 2,4-dinitrophenol (2 × 10
−4 M) and Triton X-100 (2%). Inhibitors of electron transfer in the mitochondrial respiratory chain, rotenone and potassium cyanide, failed to affect 5'-nucleotidase activity in both the presence and absence of NADH. The data obtained give reasons to suggest a redox-dependent mechanism of 5'-nucleotidase activation in rat liver plasma membranes.
Activation of Toll-like receptor (TLR) signaling by microbial and host molecular signatures is critical to the induction of immune responses. Such signaling is, perforce, kept under tight control. We ...recently discovered a novel endogenous inhibitor of TLR-4 — RP105. Initially identified as a B-cell-specific molecule with a role in B-cell proliferation in response to RP105 mAb and LPS, RP105 is a TLR-4 homologue. Further, like TLR-4 whose surface expression and signaling depends upon co-expression of the secreted protein MD-2, surface expression of RP105 is dependent upon co-expression of the MD2 homologue, MD-1. Unlike the TLRs, however, RP105 lacks a signaling domain, having the apparent structure of a TLR inhibitor. Further, RP105 is not B-cell-specific; its expression directly mirrors that of TLR-4 on dendritic cells and macrophages. These considerations suggested a role for RP105 as a physiological inhibitor of TLR-4 signaling. Indeed, we have recently found that: (i) RP105 is a specific inhibitor of TLR-4 signaling in HEK293 cells; (ii) RP105/MD-1 interacts directly with TLR-4/MD-2, inhibiting the ability of this signaling complex to bind LPS; (iii) RP105 regulates TLR-4 signaling in dendritic cells and macrophages; and (iv) RP105 regulates in vivo responses to LPS.