Inhibition of Extracellular Calcium Influx Results in Enhanced IL-12 Production in LPS-Treated Murine Macrophages by Downregulation of the CaMKKβ-AMPK-SIRT1 Signaling Pathway.

Activated macrophages are the primary sources of IL-12, a key cytokine bridging innate and adaptive immunity. However, macrophages produce low amounts of IL-12 upon stimulation and the underlying regulatory mechanism remains unclear. In this study, we found a new calcium-dependent mechanism that controlled IL-12 production in LPS-treated murine macrophages. First, LPS was demonstrated to induce extracellular calcium entry in murine peritoneal macrophages and inhibition of calcium influx resulted in marked enhancement in IL-12 production. Then, withdrawal of extracellular calcium was found to suppress CaMKK and AMPK activation triggered by LPS while chemical inhibition or genetic knockdown of these two kinases augmented LPS induced IL-12 production. AMPK activation increased the NAD