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Mast cells promote atherosclerosis by releasing proinflammatory cytokines

Abstract

Mast cells contribute importantly to allergic and innate immune responses by releasing various preformed and newly synthesized mediators1,2. Previous studies have shown mast cell accumulation in human atherosclerotic lesions3. This report establishes the direct participation of mast cells in atherogenesis in low-density lipoprotein receptor–deficient (Ldlr−/−) mice4. Atheromata from compound mutant Ldlr−/− KitW-sh/W-sh mice5 showed decreased lesion size, lipid deposition, T-cell and macrophage numbers, cell proliferation and apoptosis, but increased collagen content and fibrous cap development. In vivo, adoptive transfer of syngeneic wild-type or tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α-deficient mast cells restored atherogenesis to Ldlr−/−KitW-sh/W-sh mice. Notably, neither interleukin (IL)-6- nor interferon (IFN)-γ-deficient mast cells did so, indicating that the inhibition of atherogenesis in Ldlr−/−KitW-sh/W-sh mice resulted from the absence of mast cells and mast cell–derived IL-6 and IFN-γ. Compared with wild-type or TNF-α-deficient mast cells, those lacking IL-6 or IFN-γ did not induce expression of proatherogenic cysteine proteinase cathepsins from vascular cells in vitro or affect cathepsin and matrix metalloproteinase activities in atherosclerotic lesions, implying that mast cell–derived IL-6 and IFN-γ promote atherogenesis by augmenting the expression of matrix-degrading proteases. These observations establish direct participation of mast cells and mast cell–derived IL-6 and IFN-γ in mouse atherogenesis and provide new mechanistic insight into the pathogenesis of this common disease.

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Figure 1: Mast cell accumulation in mouse atherosclerotic lesions.
Figure 2: The absence of mast cells attenuates atherogenesis in vivo.
Figure 3: Mast cell reconstitution in vivo.
Figure 4: BMMC regulate proatherogenic proteinase activity in vitro and in vivo.

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Acknowledgements

The authors thank E. Shvartz and Y. Yuan for technical assistance, K. Williams for editorial assistance and G. Caughey for comments on the manuscript. This work is supported by US National Institutes of Health grants HL60942 and HL67283 (G.-P.S.), HL56985 (P.L.), HL67249 (G.K.S.) and HL75026 (P.J.W.).

Author information

Authors and Affiliations

Authors

Contributions

J.S. generated compound mutant mice, produced atherosclerosis, harvested tissues, performed mast cell reconstitution experiments and analyzed lesions. G.K.S. performed all the immunohistochemistry experiments and participated in data analysis. P.J.W. helped with the design of experiments using the mast cell–null mice and mast cell reconstitution, data analysis and manuscript editing. M.Y. helped with lesion content characterization. S.K. helped with initial mouse breeding and genotyping. P.L. helped in experiment design and manuscript editing. L.A.M. performed immunostaining and lesion cell content measurement. J.M.-S.C. helped with BMMC culture. G.-P.S. designed the experiment, performed the cysteine protease activity assay, participated in data analysis and prepared the manuscript.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Guo-Ping Shi.

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The authors declare no competing financial interests.

Supplementary information

Supplementary Fig. 1

Confirmation of c-Kit monoclonal antibody specificity. (PDF 536 kb)

Supplementary Fig. 2

IFN-γ expression in mouse aortic atherosclerotic lesions. (PDF 398 kb)

Supplementary Fig. 3

BMMC morphology. (PDF 308 kb)

Supplementary Fig. 4

BMMC fluorescence-activated cell sorting analysis. (PDF 108 kb)

Supplementary Fig. 5

[125I]JPM labeling of mouse endothelial cell cysteine protease cathespins. (PDF 1845 kb)

Supplementary Table 1

Protease activity in BMMC lysates. (PDF 44 kb)

Supplementary Table 2

Mouse plasma lipid and serum amyloid A contents. (PDF 60 kb)

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Sun, J., Sukhova, G., Wolters, P. et al. Mast cells promote atherosclerosis by releasing proinflammatory cytokines. Nat Med 13, 719–724 (2007). https://doi.org/10.1038/nm1601

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