EUK-134 Salen-Manganese Complex is a UVB photoprotective agent, for supplementary use with sunscreens, available in Alyria Corrective Protection SPF 30 Lotion.
Salen-manganese complexes exhibit powerful superoxide dismutase and catalase activity, with pharmacologic efficacy in several oxidative-stress-associated disease models.
Ultraviolet UVB not only induces direct DNA damage, but also generates oxidative stress.
EUK-134, a salen-manganese complex, might therefore confer a direct protection against UVB-induced oxidative stress and consequently alleviate UVB-damage-induced signal transduction.
We investigated the effect of EUK-134 on the UVB-induced accumulation and stabilization of the p53 protein.
Cells treated with EUK-134 before UVB irradiation showed a significantly lower accumulation of the p53 protein in a concentration-dependent fashion.
Furthermore, EUK-134 severely reduced N-terminal phosphorylation of p53.
The extracellular signal-regulated kinase ERK and the stress-activated kinases JNK and p38 have been implicated in the UVB-induced N-terminal phosphorylation and accumulation of p53.
Pre-treatment with EUK-134 inhibited the UVB-induced activation of these mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathways.
We hypothesize that EUK-134, by direct protection of the membrane from UVB-induced oxidative damage, reduces oxidative stress induced MAPK signaling and consequently lowers the level of p53 induction.
The protection conferred by EUK-134 resulted in a significant increase in cell survival following UVB irradiation.
A Synthetic Superoxide Dismutase/Catalase Mimetic (EUK-134) Inhibits Membrane-Damage-Induced Activation of Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinase Pathways and Reduces p53 Accumulation in Ultraviolet B-Exposed Primary Human Keratinocytes
David Decraene*, Katrien Smaers*, David Gan , Tom Mammone , Mary Matsui , Daniel Maes , Lieve Declercqà and Marjan Garmyn*
Department of Dermatology, University of Leuven, Leuven, Belgium
Estée Lauder Companies, Melville, New York, USA
àEstée Lauder Coordination Center, Oevel, Belgium
Correspondence: Marjan Garmyn, Department of Dermatology, UZ St. Rafaël, Kapucijnenvoer 33, B-3000 Leuven, Belgium. Email: Marjan.Garmyn@med.kuleuven.ac.be
Received 14 February 2003; Revised 4 August 2003; Accepted 22 October 2003; Published online 12 February 2004.
Keywords: oxidative stress, skin, p53 phosphorylation, manganese compounds, hydrogen peroxide.
Abbreviations: AAPH, 2,2'-azobis(2-amidinopropane)dihydrochloride; ERK, extracellular signal-regulated kinase; JNK/SAPK, c-Jun N-terminal kinase/stress-activated protein kinase; MAPK, mitogen-activated protein kinase; ROS, reactive oxygen species; SOD, superoxide dismutase; UV, ultraviolet.