1区 · 医学
Article
作者: Visner, Gary A ; Azzoni, Cinzia ; Tai, Albert K ; Maestroni, Anna ; Capobianco, Annalisa ; Chau, Nelson B ; Becchi, Gabriella ; Abdi, Reza ; Castillo-Leon, Eduardo ; Sabatino, Mario ; Pastore, Ida ; Joe Seelam, Andy ; Ben Nasr, Moufida ; Fiorina, Paolo ; Assi, Emma ; Vergani, Andrea ; Yang, Jun ; Corradi, Domenico ; D'Addio, Francesca ; Uehara, Mayuko ; Potena, Luciano ; Ammirati, Enrico ; Rossi, Chiara ; Liu, Kaifeng ; Loretelli, Cristian ; Frigerio, Maria ; Solini, Anna ; Bottarelli, Lorena ; Pezzolesi, Marcus G ; Zuccotti, Gian V ; Usuelli, Vera ; Venturini, Massimo ; Rigamonti, Elena ; El Essawy, Basset
Despite much progress in improving graft outcome during cardiac transplantation, chronic allograft vasculopathy (CAV) remains an impediment to long-term graft survival. MicroRNAs (miRNAs) emerged as regulators of the immune response. Here, we aimed to examine the miRNA network involved in CAV. miRNA profiling of heart samples obtained from a murine model of CAV and from cardiac-transplanted patients with CAV demonstrated that miR-21 was most significantly expressed and was primarily localized to macrophages. Interestingly, macrophage depletion with clodronate did not significantly prolong allograft survival in mice, while conditional deletion of miR-21 in macrophages or the use of a specific miR-21 antagomir resulted in indefinite cardiac allograft survival and abrogated CAV. The immunophenotype, secretome, ability to phagocytose, migration, and antigen presentation of macrophages were unaffected by miR-21 targeting, while macrophage metabolism was reprogrammed, with a shift toward oxidative phosphorylation in naïve macrophages and with an inhibition of glycolysis in pro-inflammatory macrophages. The aforementioned effects resulted in an increase in M2-like macrophages, which could be reverted by the addition of L-arginine. RNA-seq analysis confirmed alterations in arginase-associated pathways associated with miR-21 antagonism. In conclusion, miR-21 is overexpressed in murine and human CAV, and its targeting delays CAV onset by reprogramming macrophages metabolism.