Background: A major health disparity suffered by African Americans (AA) is a predisposition toward fibrotic diseases of the skin, lung, and other organs. We previously showed that healthy AA and scleroderma (systemic sclerosis (SSc)) patient monocytes share biochemical and functional differences from control Caucasian (C) monocytes that may predispose AA to SSc. The central difference is a decrease in caveolin-1. Low caveolin-1 levels promote monocyte migration, their differentiation into fibrocytes, and fibrocyte recruitment into fibrotic tissues. Here we have greatly expanded our studies on the mechanism of action in fibrosis of caveolin-1 in AA and SSc monocytes.
Results: Expression of chemokine receptors (CCR1, CCR2, CCR3) is enhanced in healthy AA monocytes compared to healthy C monocytes and further increased in SSc monocytes. A parallel increase in function occurs assessed by migration toward chemokines MCP-1 and MCP-3. Chemokine-receptor expression and function are inhibited by the caveolin-1 scaffolding domain peptide (CSD) via its action as a surrogate for caveolin-1. Cells bearing chemokine receptors accumulate to high levels in fibrotic lung and skin tissue from SSc patients and from mice treated with bleomycin. This accumulation is almost completely blocked in mice treated with CSD. In signaling studies, Src activation is enhanced in AA monocytes compared to C monocytes and further increased in SSc monocytes. Lyn is also highly activated in SSc monocytes. Src and Lyn activation are inhibited by CSD. Src and Lyn's roles in monocyte migration were demonstrated using specific inhibitors.
Conclusions: To the best of our knowledge, this is the first report that the expression and function of CCR1, CCR2, and CCR3 are upregulated in monocytes from healthy AA and from SSc patients via molecular mechanisms involving caveolin-1, Src/Lyn, and MEK/ERK. The results suggest that the migration/recruitment of monocytes and fibrocytes into fibrotic tissues, mediated at least in part by CCR1, CCR2, and CCR3, plays a major role in the progression of lung and skin fibrosis and in the predisposition of AA to fibrotic diseases. Our findings further suggest that chemokine receptors and signaling molecules, particularly caveolin-1, that control their expression/function are promising targets for treating fibrotic diseases.