Role of Nuclear Factor of Activated T Cells (NFAT) Pathway in Regulating Autophagy and Inflammation in Retinal Pigment Epithelial Cells

Nuclear factor of activated T cells (NFAT) family of transcription factors are substrates of calcineurin and play an important role in integrating Ca(2+) signaling with a variety of cellular functions. Of the five NFAT proteins (NFAT1-5), NFAT1-4 are subject to dephosphorylation and activation by calcineurin, a Ca(2+)-calmodulin-dependent phosphatase. Increased levels of intracellular Ca(2+) activates calcineurin, which in turn dephosphorylates and promotes nuclear translocation of NFAT. We investigated the functions of NFAT proteins in the retinal pigment epithelial cells (RPE). Our results show that NFAT-mediated luciferase activity was induced upon treatment with the bacterial endotoxin, lipopolysaccharide (LPS) and treatment with the NFAT peptide inhibitor, MAGPHPVIVITGPHEE (VIVIT) decreased LPS-induced NFAT luciferase activity. LPS-induced activation of NFAT-regulated cytokines (IL-6 and IL-8) is inhibited by treatment of cells with VIVIT. We also investigated the effects of NFAT signaling on the autophagy pathway. Our results show that inhibition of NFAT with VIVIT in cells deprived of nutrients resulted in cytosolic retention of transcription Factor EB (TFEB), decreased expression of TFEB-regulated coordinated Lysosomal Expression and Regulation CLEAR network genes and decreased starvation-induced autophagy flux in the RPE cells. In summary, these studies suggest that the NFAT pathway plays an important role in the regulation of autophagy and inflammation in the RPE.