Heterologous down-regulation of angiotensin type 1 receptors by purinergic P2Y2 receptor stimulation through S-nitrosylation of NF-κB

Cross-talk between G protein-coupled receptor (GPCR) signaling pathways serves to fine tune cellular responsiveness by neurohumoral factors. Accumulating evidence has implicated nitric oxide (NO)-based signaling downstream of GPCRs, but the molecular details are unknown. Here, we show that adenosine triphosphate (ATP) decreases angiotensin type 1 receptor (AT(1)R) density through NO-mediated S-nitrosylation of nuclear factor kappa B (NF-kappa B) in rat cardiac fibroblasts. Stimulation of purinergic P2Y(2) receptor by ATP increased expression of inducible NO synthase (iNOS) through activation of nuclear factor of activated T cells, NFATc1 and NFATc3. The ATP-induced iNOS interacted with p65 subunit of NF-kappa B in the cytosol through flavin-binding domain, which was indispensable for the locally generated NO-mediated S-nitrosylation of p65 at Cys38. beta-Arrestins anchored the formation of p65/I kappa B alpha/beta-arrestins/iNOS quaternary complex. The S-nitrosylated p65 resulted in decreases in NF-kappa B transcriptional activity and AT(1)R density. In pressure-overloaded mouse hearts, ATP released from cardiomyocytes led to decrease in AT(1)R density through iNOS-mediated S-nitrosylation of p65. These results show a unique regulatory mechanism of heterologous regulation of GPCRs in which cysteine modification of transcriptional factor rather than protein phosphorylation plays essential roles.