The effect of ROCK on TNF-α-induced CXCL8 secretion by intestinal epithelial cell lines is mediated through MKK4 and JNK signaling

•Inhibiting ROCK suppressed TNF-stimulated CXCL8 secretion.•Inhibiting ROCK suppressed TNF-stimulated CXCL8 mRNA levels.•Suppressing ROCK had no significant effect on TNF-induced IκBα responses.•Suppressing ROCK inhibited TNF-induced JNK and MKK4 phosphorylation.•ROCK has a role in TNF-induced JNK signaling to CXCL8 responses in epithelial cells. Intestinal epithelial cells (IEC) play a role in mucosal inflammatory responses by producing important chemokines like CXCL8 when stimulated by TNF-α. Previously, we found that IEC cell lines required the Rho-associated kinase, ROCK, for CXCL8 responses after IL-1 stimulation. This study extends these findings by showing that inhibiting ROCK suppressed TNF-α-induced CXCL8 secretion by Caco-2 and DLD1 colonic epithelial cell lines and CXCL8 mRNA levels in Caco-2 cells. RNAi knockdown experiments indicated that the inhibitory effect was mediated by ROCK2, and not ROCK1. Inhibiting ROCK had no effect on TNF-stimulated IκBα phosphorylation and degradation or p38 MAPK phosphorylation indicating that ROCK plays no role in these signaling pathways. However, inhibiting ROCK suppressed TNF-induced phosphorylation of the p54 JNK isoform and phosphorylation of the upstream MKK4 kinase. These results suggest that ROCK is required for CXCL8 responses by TNF-stimulated IEC by affecting intracellular signaling through MKK4 and JNK.