Role of the JAK-STAT pathway in protection of hydrogen peroxide preconditioning against apoptosis induced by oxidative stress in PC12 cells

The aim of this study was to investigate the role of JAK-STAT pathway in the cytoprotection afforded by preconditioning with H2O2. It was shown that (1) Preconditioning with 100 mu mol/L H2O2 can markedly protect PC12 cells against apoptosis and cytotoxicity induced by 300 mu mol/L H2O2; (2) The expression and tyrosine phosphorylation of JAK2, not JAK1 were rapidly increased at 5 min after H2O2 preconditioning; (3) The expression of STAT1 and STAT3 were significantly increased at 15 min after H2O2 preconditioning, and the pTyr-STAT1 and pTyr-STAT3 were markedly increased at 60 min after H2O2 preconditioning; (4) Pretreatment with the JAK inhibitor AG-490 (10 mu mol/L) 20 min before H2O2 preconditioning blocked not only the activation of JAK2, STAT1 and STAT3, but also the cytoprotection of H2O2 preconditioning against apoptosis and cytotoxicity induced by oxidative stress. These findings suggested that preconditioning with H2O2 activated the JAK-STAT pathway that played an important role in the cytoprotection induced by H2O2 preconditioning.