Abstract 382: Lipin-1 Links Pro-inflammatory Responses and Foam Cell Formation by Oxidized-Low Density Lipoprotein-Elicited Macrophages

2015 ◽  
Vol 35 (suppl_1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Aaron R Navratil ◽  
Aimee E Vozenilek ◽  
James A Cardelli ◽  
Jonette M Green ◽  
A W Orr ◽  
...  

Atherosclerosis is a chronic inflammatory disease of large and medium-sized arteries and one of the underlying causes of cardiovascular disease (CVD). Macrophages participate decisively in the development and promotion of atherosclerosis. Macrophages infiltrate the arterial intima to ingest modified low density lipoproteins (e.g. oxLDLs) via scavenger receptors. The scavenging of oxLDLs results in foam cell formation due to enhanced lipid droplet biogenesis. These foam cells eventually release pro-inflammatory cytokines that promote atherosclerosis. However, it is currently unknown whether there is a link between lipid droplet biogenesis and pro-inflammatory cytokine production in macrophages that scavenge oxLDL. Lipin-1, a phosphatidate phosphohydrolase enzyme, partially contributes to macrophage pro-inflammatory cytokine production following stimulation with bacteria. Lipin-1 is also required for lipid droplet biogenesis in macrophages. Finally, we observed lipin-1 protein within macrophages from human atherosclerotic plaques. Thus, we hypothesized that lipid droplet biogenesis, via lipin-1 activity, directly contributes to foam cell pro-inflammatory cytokine production. To test this hypothesis we compared lipid droplet biogenesis and pro-inflammatory cytokine responses of oxLDL-stimulated wild type and lipin-1-depleted macrophages. Depletion of lipin-1 inhibited oxLDL-induced foam cell generation by reducing lipid droplet number, area, and staining intensity. There were no differences in scavenger receptor expression or uptake of oxLDL between wild type and lipin-1-depleted cells. In addition, depletion of lipin-1 also ablated oxLDL-elicited production of the pro-atherogenic cytokines tumor necrosis factor-α and interleukin-6. These findings demonstrate a critical role for lipin-1 in the regulation of macrophage inflammatory responses to oxLDL. Furthermore, these data begin to link foam cell formation, via lipid droplet biogenesis, and pro-inflammatory cytokine production within oxLDL stimulated macrophages. Thus, our studies suggest that lipid droplet biogenesis may be an ideal therapeutic target to inhibit inflammation associated with atherosclerosis to treat CVD.

2016 ◽  
Vol 36 (suppl_1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Aimee E Vozenilek ◽  
Aaron R Navratil ◽  
Jonette M Green ◽  
David Coleman ◽  
A. Wayne Orr ◽  
...  

Modified low density lipoproteins (modLDL) elicit macrophage generation into foam cells that release pro-inflammatory mediators driving atherosclerotic lesion progression causing cardiovascular disease. The molecular mechanisms that elicit foam cell inflammatory responses have not yet been fully elucidated. The lipid-laden phenotype that is characteristic of macrophage foam cells is due to lipid droplet biogenesis in response to excess cholesterol. Lipid droplet biogenesis is a process that is thought to be symptomatic of, but not drive atherosclerosis. Lipid droplet biogenesis requires glycerolipid synthesis, during which, lipin-1 converts phosphatidate into diglyceride as the penultimate step of lipid droplet generation. We had previously demonstrated lipin-1 is also required for modLDL-elicited pro-inflammatory response from macrophages. We hypothesized that modLDL elicits chronic diglyceride generation, via lipin-1 enzymatic activity, that activates signaling cascades responsible for foam cell pro-inflammatory responses. To test our hypotheses we stimulated wild type and lipin-1 depleted bone marrow-derived macrophages (BMDMs) with oxidized LDLs (oxLDLs). Stimulation of wild type BMDMs resulted in chronic activation of the signaling kinases PKCα/βII, ERK1/2 and the AP-1 transcription factor subunit cJun (up to 48 hours after stimulation). This pathway was not observed to be active in BMDMs depleted of lipin-1 either genetically or with siRNA. The pharmacological inhibition of lipin-1, PKCα/βII, ERK1/2 strongly suggest lipin-1- PKCα/βII-ERK1/2-cJun represents a signaling axis. Finally, each of these proteins were required for oxLDL-elicited pro-inflammatory responses by macrophages. These results suggest that augmented glycerolipid synthesis in macrophages due to modLDL stimulation is not just symptomatic of atherosclerosis but promote inflammatory responses that drive lesion progression


2021 ◽  
Vol 11 (1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Ricardo Louzada da Silva ◽  
Diana M. Elizondo ◽  
Nailah Z. D. Brandy ◽  
Naomi L. Haddock ◽  
Thomas A. Boddie ◽  
...  

AbstractMacrophages and monocytes are important for clearance of Leishmania infections. However, immune evasion tactics employed by the parasite results in suppressed inflammatory responses, marked by deficient macrophage functions and increased accumulation of monocytes. This results in an ineffective ability to clear parasite loads. Allograft Inflammatory Factor-1 (AIF1) is expressed in myeloid cells and serves to promote immune responses. However, AIF1 involvement in monocyte and macrophage functions during parasitic infections has not been explored. This study now shows that Leishmania donovani inhibits AIF1 expression in macrophages to block pro-inflammatory responses. Mice challenged with the parasite had markedly reduced AIF1 expression in splenic macrophages. Follow-up studies using in vitro approaches confirmed that L. donovani infection in macrophages suppresses AIF1 expression, which correlated with reduction in pro-inflammatory cytokine production and increased parasite load. Ectopic overexpression of AIF1 in macrophages provided protection from infection, marked by robust pro-inflammatory cytokine production and efficient pathogen clearance. Further investigations found that inhibiting AIF1 expression in bone marrow cells or monocytes impaired differentiation into functional macrophages. Collectively, results show that AIF1 is a critical regulatory component governing monocyte and macrophage immune functions and that L. donovani infection can suppress the gene as an immune evasion tactic.


2015 ◽  
Vol 35 (suppl_1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Toshihiro Imamura ◽  
Iain S Hartley ◽  
Abdull J Massri ◽  
Orit Poulsen ◽  
Dan Zhou ◽  
...  

Background: Obstructive sleep apnea syndrome (OSAS) is a common sleeping disorder characterized by intermittent hypoxia (IH). Clinical studies have previously shown an independent association between obstructive sleep apnea and atherosclerosis. Furthermore, it has been previously shown that such a predisposition to atherosclerosis in OSAS patient can be caused by various inflammatory mediators, particularly the NF-kappa B (NF-kB) pathway. Foam cells or lipid-laden macrophages in the atherosclerotic lesion have been well documented as a hallmark of atherosclerosis; however, the contribution of IH, such as in OSAS, to foam cell formation is not yet fully understood. Previous observations have led us to hypothesized that IH induces macrophage foam cell formation due to the activation of NF-kappa B pathway. Methods: Myeloid restricted IKK-beta deleted mice were generated by a Cre/lox recombination system to inactivate the NF-kB pathway in macrophages. Thioglycollate-elicited peritoneal macrophages were incubated with 200 μg/ml of low-density lipoprotein and simultaneously exposed to either IH (Normoxia: 8min, 0.5% O2: 10min) or normoxia for 24 hours. After exposure, the extent of foam cell formation was assessed by quantification of intracellular cholesterol. Finally, we compared the differences in gene expression using RNA-seq between wild type and IKK-beta deleted macrophages exposed to either IH or normoxia for 24 hours. Results: IH significantly increased total cholesterol in wild type macrophages (63.4±3.3 μg/mg of cellular protein, n=9) in comparison to normoxia (51.2±1.6). Interestingly, such increase in intracellular cholesterol in response to IH-exposure was abolished by IKK-beta deletion (IH 52.4±1.1; normoxia 50.0±1.6 n=8), suggesting that NF-kB pathway regulated gene expression is critical for IH-induced foam cell formation. Indeed, we have found that NF-kB knockout abolished IH-induced expressional alterations in 364 genes, which are potential candidates for regulating intracellular cholesterol. Conclusion: NF-kB activation plays a critical role in IH-induced macrophage foam cell formation.


2018 ◽  
Vol 132 (23) ◽  
pp. 2493-2507 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuki Sato ◽  
Rena Watanabe ◽  
Nozomi Uchiyama ◽  
Nana Ozawa ◽  
Yui Takahashi ◽  
...  

Vasostatin-1, a chromogranin A (CgA)-derived peptide (76 amino acids), is known to suppress vasoconstriction and angiogenesis. A recent study has shown that vasostatin-1 suppresses the adhesion of human U937 monocytes to human endothelial cells (HECs) via adhesion molecule down-regulation. The present study evaluated the expression of vasostatin-1 in human atherosclerotic lesions and its effects on inflammatory responses in HECs and human THP-1 monocyte-derived macrophages, macrophage foam cell formation, migration and proliferation of human aortic smooth muscle cells (HASMCs) and extracellular matrix (ECM) production by HASMCs, and atherogenesis in apolipoprotein E-deficient (ApoE−/−) mice. Vasostatin-1 was expressed around Monckeberg’s medial calcific sclerosis in human radial arteries. Vasostatin-1 suppressed lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced up-regulation of monocyte chemotactic protein-1 (MCP-1), vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 (VCAM-1), and E-selectin in HECs. Vasostatin-1 suppressed inflammatory M1 phenotype and LPS-induced interleukin-6 (IL-6) secretion via nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) down-regulation in macrophages. Vasostatin-1 suppressed oxidized low-density lipoprotein (oxLDL)-induced foam cell formation associated with acyl-CoA:cholesterol acyltransferase-1 (ACAT-1) and CD36 down-regulation and ATP-binding cassette transporter A1 (ABCA1) up-regulation in macrophages. In HASMCs, vasostatin-1 suppressed angiotensin II (AngII)-induced migration and collagen-3 and fibronectin expression via decreasing ERK1/2 and p38 phosphorylation, but increased elastin expression and matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-2 and MMP-9 activities via increasing Akt and JNK phosphorylation. Vasostatin-1 did not affect the proliferation and apoptosis in HASMCs. Four-week infusion of vasostatin-1 suppressed the development of aortic atherosclerotic lesions with reductions in intra-plaque inflammation, macrophage infiltration, and SMC content, and plasma glucose level in ApoE−/− mice. These results indicate the inhibitory effects of vasostatin-1 against atherogenesis. The present study provided the first evidence that vasostatin-1 may serve as a novel therapeutic target for atherosclerosis.


2016 ◽  
Vol 36 (suppl_1) ◽  
Author(s):  
Shuhong Hu ◽  
Li Zhu

Atherosclerosis is a chronic inflammatory disease of the arterial wall elicited by accumulation of LDL and leucocytes in the subendothelium at predilection sites with disturbed laminar flow. Chemokines and their receptors appear to act as critical players in atherosclerosis as they not only direct atherogenic recruitment of leucocytes but also exert cell hemostatic functions by chemokine ligand-receptor axes and their specific or combined contributions. Atypical chemokine (C-C motif) receptor-like 2 (CCRL2) cooperates with its ligand chemerin and leukocyte-expressed chemerin receptor chemokine-like receptor 1 (CMKLR1) to regulate cell trafficking and inflammatory responses,but its role in atherosclerosis is not clear. To investigate whether CCRL2 contributes to the pathomechanism of atherogenesis, we generated CCRL2 -/- mice in hyperlipidemic atherosclerosis-prone ApoE -/- background and found that the atherosclerotic plaque area of the total aorta was significantly reduced compared with CCRL2 +/+ ApoE -/- mice on a high fat diet. The protective effect of CCRL2 deficiency was anatomically isolated primarily to the site of disturbed blood flow (D-flow) in the aortic arch but not in the descending aorta. Endothelial CCRL2 was upregulated in response to D-flow and either CCRL2 or CMKLR1 deletion reduced plaque formation. Further studies showed that CCRL2 co-localized with CMKLR1 and chemerin within the atherosclerotic aorta root. CCRL2 deficiency led to significantly less lipid deposition in aortic root, reduced CMKLR1 + leukocyte rolling on lesional vascular endothelium, diminished macrophage accumulation and foam cell formation, and polarized macrophage to an M2-like phenotype. These results demonstrate that D-flow induction of vascular CCRL2 is required for optimal formation of atherosclerotic plaques via coordinating the accumulation of CMKLR1 + monocytes/macrophages within the vascular wall, and thus identifies CCRL2 as a novel drug target to prevent or treat atherosclerosis. This work was supported by Natural Science Foundation of China (grant 81370373 to L.Z. and 31300781 to C.T.) Key Words: atherosclerosis, CCRL2, chemerin, macrophage


2016 ◽  
Vol 16 (05) ◽  
pp. 1650068
Author(s):  
SAFOORA KARIMI ◽  
MITRA DADVAR ◽  
BAHRAM DABIR

Atherosclerosis is one of the main causes of death in the developed world. The disease, which is an inflammatory disease, has been the focus of many studies. A few studies attempted to model atherosclerosis lesion development mathematically while no attention has been paid to the multistage nature of the disease. The present study provides a mathematical model for atherosclerosis evolution by focusing on the inflammatory responses of the initial stage of the disease. In the model, the inflammatory response in type I lesion, which includes endothelium dysfunction, LDL oxidation, monocytes entry, foam cell formation and intima property changes, are coupled with the transport equations of blood and LDL in lumen and arterial wall. The innovation of the model is determination of the duration of the initial stage of lesion propagation for a specific patient while the presence of leaky junction in endothelial layer and LDL oxidation in the intima layer are considered. The greatest advantage of the study in comparison with previous studies is to provide a model for the initiating stage of the atherosclerosis development so that a more precise result of the disease evolution is obtained.


2020 ◽  
Vol 21 (21) ◽  
pp. 8312
Author(s):  
Takashi Obama ◽  
Hiroyuki Itabe

Neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs) significantly contribute to various pathophysiological conditions, including cardiovascular diseases. NET formation in the vasculature exhibits inflammatory and thrombogenic activities on the endothelium. NETs are induced by various stimulants such as exogenous damage-associated molecular patterns (DAMPs). Oxidatively modified low-density lipoprotein (oxLDL) has been physiologically defined as a subpopulation of LDL that comprises various oxidative modifications in the protein components and oxidized lipids, which could act as DAMPs. oxLDL has been recognized as a crucial initiator and accelerator of atherosclerosis through foam cell formation by macrophages; however, recent studies have demonstrated that oxLDL stimulates neutrophils to induce NET formation and enhance NET-mediated inflammatory responses in vascular endothelial cells, thereby suggesting that oxLDL may be involved in cardiovascular diseases through neutrophil activation. As NETs comprise myeloperoxidase and proteases, they have the potential to mediate oxidative modification of LDL. This review summarizes recent updates on the analysis of NETs, their implications for cardiovascular diseases, and prospects for a possible link between NET formation and oxidative modification of lipoproteins.


Blood ◽  
2014 ◽  
Vol 124 (21) ◽  
pp. 457-457
Author(s):  
Tamisha Y. Vaughan-Whitley ◽  
Hikaru Nishio ◽  
Barry Imhoff ◽  
Zhengqi Wang ◽  
Silvia T. Bunting ◽  
...  

Abstract Macrophages are responsible for protecting the body against foreign invaders. We have been studying the role of Grb2-associated binding proteins (Gabs) in macrophage biology. In mice, Gabs are adaptor proteins that include three family members (Gab1, Gab2, and Gab3) that play critical regulatory roles in modulating cytokine receptor signaling. Gab2 knockout mice have no developmental defects but have impaired allergic responses, osteoclast defects, altered mast cell development, and altered hematopoiesis. Gab3 knockout mice have no defined phenotypes alone and although highly expressed in macrophages, a functional role was not found despite considerable focus on this cell type. Therefore, we set out to determine the combined role of Gab2 and Gab3 to determine whether they performed redundant functions not observable in single knockout mice. To analyze regulation of macrophage cytokine production, a Gab2/3 deficient mouse model was generated on the C57BL/6 background. Bone Marrow Derived Macrophages (BMDM) were expanded from the bone marrow (BM) of wild-type (WT), Gab2 and Gab3 single knockout and Gab2/3 knockout mice and found to similarly co-express CD11b and F4/80. However, Gab2/3 knockout BM produced only 30% of wild-type BMDM numbers. Despite reductions in BMDM absolute numbers, isolated BMDM demonstrated significant induction of pro-inflammatory cytokines TNF-α and IL-12 and anti-inflammatory cytokine IL-10 mRNA at baseline. Interestingly, after LPS stimulation (100ng/ml) we detected much greater induction of TNF-α and IL-12 mRNA and protein expression. Interestingly, despite increased IL-10 mRNA induction in Gab2/3 knockout BMDM, no IL-10 protein expression could be detected by Luminex assay. No changes were observed in production of interferon or STAT1 activation in these BMDM. Studies have shown that rapamycin treatment of macrophages suppresses mTORC1 and subsequently reduces IL-10 production and promotes pro-inflammatory cytokine production. Gab2 is known for its role in regulating the PI3K pathway through interactions with the p85 regulatory subunit of PI3K. Therefore, we also examined whether mTOR activation was effected by Gab2/3 deficiency causing altered cytokine expression. Deletion of Gab2/3 in BMDMs treated with LPS showed an inhibition of 4EBP1 phosphorylation and increased AKT phosphorylation. These results suggest that Gabs may play a critical role in modulating mTOR activation and potentially causing defects in protein translation that reflect in reduced IL-10 cytokine levels in Gab2/3 knockout cells. IL-10 has a critical immunoregulatory role that is dysregulated in patients with inflammatory bowel disease. IL-10 deficient mice develop colitis due to loss of mucosal immune tolerance. Strikingly, as early as two months of age in vivo 12/32 (37.5%) Gab2/3 knockout mice developed rectal prolapse and suffered from diarrhea within a six month period. Histological analysis of isolated colons using a scoring system confirmed spontaneous development of colitis in Gab2/3 knockout mice compared to no phenotypes observed in WT and single knockout controls. To determine whether the BM was directly involved in the disease, BM chimeras were generated using irradiated WT mice as recipients and Gab2/3 knockout mice as donors. Susceptible recipients receiving Gab2/3 knockout BM showed a more invasive colitis phenotype than the spontaneous disease and resulted in forced euthanization due to body weight decreases greater than 25%. Multiple ulcerations were present in most of the colon proximal region, with extensive epithelial damage, transmural inflammation, and in some mice adenocarcinoma. Notably, we did not observe adenocarcinoma in untransplanted Gab2/3 knockout mice, suggesting that epithelial deletion of Gab2/3 may suppress cancer whereas in the bone marrow chimera model, the epithelial cells are WT and can be transformed. Similar phenotypes were also observed in secondary transplant recipients. Lastly, treatment of Gab2/3 knockout mice with dextran-sodium-sulfate (DSS) induced rapid severe colitis that resulted in death of 80% and 40% of Gab2/3 knockout and WT mice respectively. Overall, these observations demonstrate a major redundant role for Gab2 and Gab3 in macrophage immune surveillance required for the prevention of colitis in mice. Disclosures No relevant conflicts of interest to declare.


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