PGK1 modulates balance between pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokines by interacting with ITI-H4

Inter-α-trypsin inhibitor heavy chain 4 (ITI-H4) is one of the acute phase proteins and is mainly related with inflammatory diseases such as bacterial bloodstream infection and recurrent pregnancy loss (RPL). In a previous study, ITI-H4 was reported to be cleaved by kallikrein B1 (KLKB1) and its cleaved form induces the imbalance between pro- and anti-inflammatory cytokines. Therefore, in this study, putative substrates of ITI-H4 were isolated by immunoprecipitation and matrix-assisted laser desorption/ionization time-of-flight mass spectrometry (MALDI-TOF/MS) analysis. Of those, phosphoglycerate kinase 1 (PGK1) was found to be a binding protein of ITI-H4. PGK1 increases the level of ITI-H4 expression and blocks the cleavage of ITI-H4 mediated by KLKB1. It also inhibits pro-inflammatory response by inhibiting the JAK2/STAT3 signaling pathway. Therefore, PGK1, a novel binding partner of ITI-H4, is expected to have cellular functions in the pathogenesis of ITI-H4-related inflammatory diseases.