Human JUND peptide

Elucidating mechanisms by which physical exercise promotes resilience, the brain's ability to cope with prolonged stress exposure while maintaining normal psychological functioning, is a major research challenge given the high prevalence of stress-related mental disorders, including major depressive disorder. Chronic voluntary wheel running (VWR), a rodent model that mimics aspects of human physical exercise, induces the transcription factor Delta FosB in the nucleus accumbens (NAc), a key reward-related brain area. Delta FosB expression in NAc modulates stress susceptibility. Here, we explored whether VWR induction of NAc.FosB promotes resilience to chronic social defeat stress (CSDS). Male young-adult C57BL/6J mice were single housed for up to 21 d with or without running wheels and then subjected to 10 d of CSDS. Stress-exposed sedentary mice developed a depressive-like state, characterized by anhedonia and social avoidance, whereas stress-exposed mice that had been wheel running showed resilience. Functional inhibition of NAc.FosB during VWR, by viral-mediated overexpression of a transcriptionally inactive JunD mutant, reinstated susceptibility to CSDS. Within the NAc, VWR induction of Delta FosB was CREB-dependent, associated with altered dendritic morphology, and medium spiny neuron (MSN) subtype specific in the NAc core and shell subregions. Finally, when mice performed VWR following the onset of CSDS-induced social avoidance, VWR normalized such behavior. These data indicate that VWR promoted resilience to CSDS, and suggest that sustained induction of Delta FosB in the NAc underlies, at least in part, the stress resilience mediated by VWR. These findings provide a potential framework for the development of treatments for stress-associated mental illnesses based on physical exercise.

Expression of AP-1 proteins has been associated with a more aggressive clinical outcome in prostate cancer. However, their role and regulation by upstream kinase pathways in response to ionizing radiation has remained elusive. Here, we show that constitutive AP-1 activity in prostate cancer cells is dependent on the activities of EGF-R and PI3K. While inhibition of EGF-R is associated with suppression of c-Jun expression and proliferation, inhibition of PI3K pathway suppresses expression of several AP-1 subunits and proliferation, and also sensitizes prostate cancer cells to gamma-radiation. The importance of AP-1 as a mediator of proliferation and radiation responses is demonstrated by the findings that the expression of JunD, Fra-1 and Fra-2 siRNAs in prostate cancer cells suppress these cellular responses. Together, the findings show that AP-1 activity in prostate cancer cells mediates EGF-R and PI3K signalling, is essential for their proliferation, and confers protection against radiation-induced cell death. Thus, its inhibition would be a lucrative target for therapy in this widely increasing cancer type.