Genome-wide analysis of LXRα activation reveals new transcriptional networks in human atherosclerotic foam cells.

Increased physiological levels of oxysterols are major risk factors for developing atherosclerosis and cardiovascular disease. Lipid-loaded macrophages, termed foam cells, are important during the early development of atherosclerotic plaques. To pursue the hypothesis that ligand-based modulation of the nuclear receptor LXRα is crucial for cell homeostasis during atherosclerotic processes, we analysed genome-wide the action of LXRα in foam cells and macrophages. By integrating chromatin immunoprecipitation-sequencing (ChIP-seq) and gene expression profile analyses, we generated a highly stringent set of 186 LXRα target genes. Treatment with the nanomolar-binding ligand T0901317 and subsequent auto-regulatory LXRα activation resulted in sequence-dependent sharpening of the genome-binding patterns of LXRα. LXRα-binding loci that correlated with differential gene expression revealed 32 novel target genes with potential beneficial effects, which in part explained the implications of disease-associated genetic variation data. These observations identified highly integrated LXRα ligand-dependent transcriptional networks, including the APOE/C1/C4/C2-gene cluster, which contribute to the reversal of cholesterol efflux and the dampening of inflammation processes in foam cells to prevent atherogenesis.

Foam cell specific LXRα ligand.

OBJECTIVE: The liver X receptor α (LXRα) is a ligand-dependent nuclear receptor and the major regulator of reverse cholesterol transport in macrophages. This makes it an interesting target for mechanistic study and treatment of atherosclerosis. METHODS AND RESULTS: We optimized a promising stilbenoid structure (STX4) in order to reach nanomolar effective concentrations in LXRα reporter-gene assays. STX4 displayed the unique property to activate LXRα effectively but not its subtype LXRß. The potential of STX4 to increase transcriptional activity as an LXRα ligand was tested with gene expression analyses in THP1-derived human macrophages and oxLDL-loaded human foam cells. Only in foam cells but not in macrophage cells STX4 treatment showed athero-protective effects with similar potency as the synthetic LXR ligand T0901317 (T09). Surprisingly, combinatorial treatment with STX4 and T09 resulted in an additive effect on reporter-gene activation and target gene expression. In physiological tests the cellular content of total and esterified cholesterol was significantly reduced by STX4 without the undesirable increase in triglyceride levels as observed for T09. CONCLUSIONS: STX4 is a new LXRα-ligand to study transcriptional regulation of anti-atherogenic processes in cell or ex vivo models, and provides a promising lead structure for pharmaceutical development.