Long Noncoding RNA Gpr137b-ps Promotes Advanced Atherosclerosis via the Regulation of Autophagy in Macrophages.

BACKGROUND: Current therapies cannot completely reverse advanced atherosclerosis. High levels of amino acids, induced by Western diet, stimulate mTORC1 (mammalian target of rapamycin complex 1)-autophagy defects in macrophages, accelerating atherosclerotic plaque progression. In addition, autophagy-lysosomal dysfunction contributes to plaque necrotic core enlargement and lipid accumulation. Therefore, it is essential to investigate the novel mechanism and molecules to reverse amino acid-mTORC1-autophagy signaling dysfunction in macrophages of patients with advanced atherosclerosis. METHODS: We observed that Gpr137b-ps (G-protein-coupled receptor 137B, pseudogene) was upregulated in advanced atherosclerotic plaques. The effect of Gpr137b-ps on the progression of atherosclerosis was studied by generating advanced plaques in ApoE-/- mice with cardiac-specific knockout of Gpr137b-ps. Bone marrow-derived macrophages and mouse mononuclear macrophage cell line RAW264.7 cells were subjected to starvation or amino acid stimulation to study amino acid-mTORC1-autophagy signaling. Using both gain- and loss-of-function approaches, we explored the mechanism of Gpr137b-ps-regulated autophagy. RESULTS: Our results demonstrated that Gpr137b-ps deficiency led to enhanced autophagy in macrophages and reduced atherosclerotic lesions, characterized by fewer necrotic cores and less lipid accumulation. Knockdown of Gpr137b-ps increased autophagy and prevented amino acid-induced mTORC1 signaling activation. As the downstream binding protein of Gpr137b-ps, HSC70 (heat shock cognate 70) rescued the impaired autophagy induced by Gpr137b-ps. Furthermore, Gpr137b-ps interfered with the HSC70 binding to G3BP (Ras GTPase-activating protein-binding protein), which tethers the TSC (tuberous sclerosis complex) complex to lysosomes and suppresses mTORC1 signaling. In addition to verifying that the NTF2 (nuclear transport factor 2) domain of G3BP binds to HSC70 by in vitro protein synthesis, we further demonstrated that HSC70 binds to the NTF2 domain of G3BP through its W90-F92 motif by using computational modeling. CONCLUSIONS: These findings reveal that Gpr137b-ps plays an essential role in the regulation of macrophage autophagy, which is crucial for the progression of advanced atherosclerosis. Gpr137b-ps impairs the interaction of HSC70 with G3BP to regulate amino acid-mTORC1-autophagy signaling, and these results provide a new potential therapeutic direction for the treatment of advanced atherosclerosis.

Comprehensive Analysis of Differentially Expressed lncRNAs in the Perivascular Adipose Tissue of Patients with Coronary Heart Disease.

Background: Coronary heart disease is a highly prevalent inflammatory disease caused by coronary atherosclerosis. Numerous studies have revealed that perivascular adipose tissue is closely associated with atherosclerosis. Here, we conducted a comprehensive analysis of long non-coding RNAs and mRNAs differentially expressed in perivascular adipose tissue in patients with coronary heart disease. Methods: We conducted Gene Ontology term and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes pathway enrichment analyses of the differentially expressed genes. Furthermore, single sample gene set enrichment analysis, immune infiltration analysis, and co-expression analysis of differentially expressed long non-coding RNAs and immune gene sets were performed. Finally, the starBase and miRTarBase databases were used to construct a competing endogenous RNA network. Results: The results show that aortic perivascular adipose tissue has higher inflammation and immune infiltration levels in patients with coronary heart disease. Dysregulated long non-coding RNAs may be related to immunity, inflammation, and hypoxia. Conclusions: The findings of this study provide new insights into atherosclerosis and coronary heart disease.

HDL and Therapy.

A wealth of evidence indicates that high-density lipoprotein assumes the unique antiatherosclerosis and other cardioprotective properties. Based on that, HDL-C has been considered as a promising therapy target to reduce the cardiovascular diseases. Recombinant HDL (rHDL) and apolipoprotein mimetic peptides emerge in recent years and have great potential in the future. Here we discussed the pleiotropic therapeutic effect of rHDL based on the effects of atherogenic, angiogenesis, platelet, vascular, and Alzheimer's disease. On the other hand, rHDL not only plays the key role as the major protein component of HDL, it is also used as a nanovector in antiatherosclerotic, antitumor, cardiovascular diagnosing and other therapeutic areas. Synthetic apolipoprotein mimetic peptides like apoA-I and and apoE mimetics have undergone clinical assessment, and we have also reviewed the advances of clinical trials and gave an outlook for the therapy of rHDL and mimetic peptides.

NMR-Based Metabolomic Analysis on the Protective Effects of Apolipoprotein A-I Mimetic Peptide against Contrast Media-Induced Endothelial Dysfunction.

Endothelial dysfunction plays key roles in the pathological process of contrast media (CM)-induced acute kidney injury (CI-AKI) in patients undergoing vascular angiography or intervention treatment. Previously, we have demonstrated that an apolipoprotein A-I (apoA-I) mimetic peptide, D-4F, inhibits oxidative stress and improves endothelial dysfunction caused by CM through the AMPK/PKC pathway. However, it is unclear whether CM induce metabolic impairments in endothelial cells and whether D-4F ameliorates these metabolic impairments. In this work, we evaluated vitalities of human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs) treated with iodixanol and D-4F and performed nuclear magnetic resonance (NMR)-based metabolomic analysis to assess iodixanol-induced metabolic impairments in HUVECs, and to address the metabolic mechanisms underlying the protective effects of D-4F for ameliorating these metabolic impairments. Our results showed that iodixanol treatment distinctly impaired the vitality of HUVECs, and greatly disordered the metabolic pathways related to energy production and oxidative stress. Iodixanol activated glucose metabolism and the TCA cycle but inhibited choline metabolism and glutathione metabolism. Significantly, D-4F pretreatment could improve the iodixanol-impaired vitality of HUVECs and ameliorate the iodixanol-induced impairments in several metabolic pathways including glycolysis, TCA cycle and choline metabolism in HUVECs. Moreover, D-4F upregulated the glutathione level and hence enhanced antioxidative capacity and increased the levels of tyrosine and nicotinamide adenine dinucleotide in HUVECs. These results provided the mechanistic understanding of CM-induced endothelial impairments and the protective effects of D-4F for improving endothelial cell dysfunction. This work is beneficial to further exploring D-4F as a potential pharmacological agent for preventing CM-induced endothelial impairment and acute kidney injury.

Direct Bilirubin, but not Indirect Bilirubin, is Associated with Short-term Adverse Events in HFpEF.

OBJECTIVE: Abnormal live function tests have been identified as independent risk factors for ominous prognosis in patients with heart failure. However, most of the previous studies have failed to determine the contribution of direct bilirubin (DBIL) and indirect bilirubin (IBIL) separately. Hence, we aimed to explore whether DBIL or IBIL is correlated with the prognosis of heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF). METHODS: A total of 19837 patients were hospitalized for HFpEF between January 2012 and January 2022 in Fuqing City Hospital affiliated with Fujian Medical University. The primary endpoint was in-hospital all-cause mortality. Secondary endpoints included in-hospital cardiovascular mortality and 30-day re-admission for heart failure. RESULTS: Univariable analysis indicated that patients with elevated DBIL or IBIL were exposed to a higher risk of mortality and re-admission. However, in multivariable models, both ln-transformed DBIL and TBIL, but not IBIL, were independent risk factors for in-hospital all-cause mortality (hazard ratio (HR)=1.796, 95% confidential interval (CI)=1.477-2.183, P<0.001; HR=1.854, 95% CI=1.461-2.352, P.0.001; HR=1.161, 95% CI=0.959-1.407, P=0.126) and in-hospital cardiovascular mortality (HR=1.831, 95% CI=1.345-2.492, P.0.001; HR=1.899, 95% CI=1.300-2.773, P=0.001; HR=1.145, 95% CI=0.841-1.561, P=0.389). Only DBIL remained independently associated with 30-day readmission for heart failure (HR=1.361, 95% CI=1.036-1.787, P=0.027). Adding ln-transformed DBIL to model 1 increased its discriminatory capacity (C-statistic: 0.851 to 0.869, respectively), whereas adding ln-transformed IBIL yielded little increment (C-statistic: 0.851 to 0.852, respectively). CONCLUSION: DBIL, but not IBIL, was associated with short-term ominous prognosis in patients with HFpEF. Hence, DBIL may be the superior predictor for prognosis in HFpEF.

A Pilot Study About the Role of PANoptosis-Based Genes in Atherosclerosis Development.

Background: As a chronic inflammatory disease, atherosclerosis (AS) and ischemia events are primarily affected by inflammation in AS. PANoptosis has been implicated in many human systemic disorders, including infection, cancer, neurodegeneration, and inflammation. On the other hand, little is understood about PANoptosis's function in AS. Methods: We used consensus clustering to divide the GSE100927 dataset into two panoptosis-related subgroups. PANoptosis-associated genes were screened by differential analysis and weighted gene co-expression network analysis (WGCNA) and enriched by ClueGO software. Investigating LASSO regression and MCODE to identify AS Diagnostic Markers. Immunoinfiltration analysis and single-cell analysis were used to search for cell types associated with the diagnostic genes. Final validation was performed by polymerase chain reaction (PCR). Results: We classified the GSE100927 dataset into two PANoptosis-related subtypes based on the expression of PANoptosis-related genes (PRGs) using consensus clustering. A total of 36 PANoptosis-associated genes were screened in the differentially expressed genes and WGCNA-related module. 4 hub genes were identified by MCODE and LASSO regression, and 3 AS diagnostic markers (ACP5, CCL3, HMOX1) were screened by external validation set. Immunoinfiltration analysis and single-cell analysis showed that the three diagnostic markers were associated with macrophages, and PCR results demonstrated that ACP5 and HMOX1 could be used as AS diagnostic markers. Conclusion: Our study identified ACP5 and HMOX1 as diagnostic genes for AS that may be associated with PANoptosis. ACP5 and HMOX1 may be involved in the pathogenesis of AS by regulating macrophage PANoptosis.

Shrunken Pore Syndrome: A New and More Powerful Phenotype of Renal Dysfunction Than Chronic Kidney Disease for Predicting Contrast-Associated Acute Kidney Injury.

Background Shrunken pore syndrome (SPS) as a novel phenotype of renal dysfunction is characterized by a difference in renal filtration between cystatin C and creatinine. The manifestation of SPS was defined as a cystatin C-based estimated glomerular filtration rate (eGFR) <60% of the creatinine-based eGFR. SPS has been shown to be associated with the progression and adverse prognosis of various cardiovascular and renal diseases. However, the predictive value of SPS for contrast-associated acute kidney injury (CA-AKI) and long-term outcomes in patients undergoing percutaneous coronary intervention remains unclear. Methods and Results We retrospectively observed 5050 consenting patients from January 2012 to December 2018. Serum cystatin C and creatinine were measured and applied to corresponding 2012 and 2021 Chronic Kidney Disease Epidemiology Collaboration equations, respectively, to calculate the eGFR. Chronic kidney disease (CKD) was defined as a creatinine-based eGFR <60 mL/min per 1.73 m2 without dialysis. CA-AKI was defined as an increase in serum creatinine ≥50% or 0.3 mg/dL within 48 hours after contrast medium exposure. Overall, 649 (12.85%) patients had SPS, and 324 (6.42%) patients developed CA-AKI. Multivariate logistic regression analysis indicated that SPS was significantly associated with CA-AKI after adjusting for potential confounding factors (odds ratio [OR], 4.17 [95% CI, 3.17-5.46]; P<0.001). Receiver operating characteristic analysis indicated that the cystatin C-based eGFR:creatinine-based eGFR ratio had a better performance and stronger predictive power for CA-AKI than creatinine-based eGFR (area under the curve: 0.707 versus 0.562; P<0.001). Multivariate logistic analysis revealed that compared with those without CKD and SPS simultaneously, patients with CKD and non-SPS (OR, 1.70 [95% CI, 1.11-2.55]; P=0.012), non-CKD and SPS (OR, 4.02 [95% CI, 2.98-5.39]; P<0.001), and CKD and SPS (OR, 8.62 [95% CI, 4.67-15.7]; P<0.001) had an increased risk of CA-AKI. Patients with both SPS and CKD presented the highest risk of long-term mortality compared with those without both (hazard ratio, 2.30 [95% CI, 1.38-3.86]; P=0.002). Conclusions SPS is a new and more powerful phenotype of renal dysfunction for predicting CA-AKI than CKD and will bring new insights for an accurate clinical assessment of the risk of CA-AKI.

Gasdermin D Deficiency in Vascular Smooth Muscle Cells Ameliorates Abdominal Aortic Aneurysm Through Reducing Putrescine Synthesis.

Abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) is a common vascular disease associated with significant phenotypic alterations in vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs). Gasdermin D (GSDMD) is a pore-forming effector of pyroptosis. In this study, the role of VSMC-specific GSDMD in the phenotypic alteration of VSMCs and AAA formation is determined. Single-cell transcriptome analyses reveal Gsdmd upregulation in aortic VSMCs in angiotensin (Ang) II-induced AAA. VSMC-specific Gsdmd deletion ameliorates Ang II-induced AAA in apolipoprotein E (ApoE)-/- mice. Using untargeted metabolomic analysis, it is found that putrescine is significantly reduced in the plasma and aortic tissues of VSMC-specific GSDMD deficient mice. High putrescine levels trigger a pro-inflammatory phenotype in VSMCs and increase susceptibility to Ang II-induced AAA formation in mice. In a population-based study, a high level of putrescine in plasma is associated with the risk of AAA (p < 2.2 × 10-16 ), consistent with the animal data. Mechanistically, GSDMD enhances endoplasmic reticulum stress-C/EBP homologous protein (CHOP) signaling, which in turn promotes the expression of ornithine decarboxylase 1 (ODC1), the enzyme responsible for increased putrescine levels. Treatment with the ODC1 inhibitor, difluoromethylornithine, reduces AAA formation in Ang II-infused ApoE-/- mice. The findings suggest that putrescine is a potential biomarker and target for AAA treatment.

Corrigendum: MELD-XI Score Is Associated With Short-Term Adverse Events in Patients With Heart Failure With Preserved Ejection.

[This corrects the article DOI: 10.3389/fcvm.2021.650191.].

MMMELD-XI Score Is Associated With Short-Term Adverse Events in Patients With Heart Failure With Preserved Ejection Fraction.

Aim: Accumulating evidence suggests that MELD-XI score holds the ability to predict the prognosis of congestive heart failure. However, most of the evidence is based on the end-stage heart failure population; thus, we aim to explore the association between the MELD-XI score and the prognosis in heart failure with preserved ejection fraction (HFpEF). Methods: A total of 30,096 patients hospitalized for HFpEF in Fujian Provincial Hospital between January 1, 2014 and July 17, 2020 with available measures of creatinine and liver function were enrolled. The primary endpoint was 60-day in-hospital all-cause mortality. Secondary endpoints were 60-day in-hospital cardiovascular mortality and 30-day rehospitalization for heart failure. Results: A total of 222 patients died within 60 days after admission, among which 75 deaths were considered cardiogenic. And 73 patients were readmitted for heart failure within 30 days after discharge. Generally, patients with an elevated MELD-XI score tended to have more comorbidities, higher NYHA class, and higher inflammatory biomarkers levels. Meanwhile, the MELD-XI score was positively correlated with NT-pro BNP, left atrial diameter, E/e' and negatively correlated with LVEF. After adjusting for conventional risk factors, the MELD-XI score was independently associated with 60-day in-hospital all-cause mortality [hazard ratio(HR) = 1.052, 95% confidential interval (CI) 1.022-1.083, P = 0.001], 60-day in-hospital cardiovascular mortality (HR = 1.064, 95% CI 1.013-1.118, P = 0.014), and 30-day readmission for heart failure (HR = 1.061, 95% CI 1.015-1.108, P = 0.009). Furthermore, the MELD-XI score added an incremental discriminatory capacity to risk stratification models developed based on this cohort. Conclusion: The MELD-XI score was associated with short-term adverse events and provided additional discriminatory capacity to risk stratification models in patients hospitalized for HFpEF.

D-4F Ameliorates Contrast Media-Induced Oxidative Injuries in Endothelial Cells via the AMPK/PKC Pathway.

Endothelial dysfunction is involved in the pathophysiological processes of contrast media (CM)-induced acute kidney injury (CI-AKI) after vascular angiography or intervention. Previous study found that apolipoprotein A-I (apoA-I) mimetic peptide, D-4F, alleviates endothelial impairments via upregulating heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) expression and scavenging excessively generated reactive oxygen species (ROS). However, whether D-4F could ameliorate oxidative injuries in endothelial cells through suppressing ROS production remains unclear. In this study, a representative nonionic iodinated CM, iodixanol, was chosen for the in vitro and in vivo studies. Endothelial cell viability was assayed using micrographs, lactate dehydrogenase (LDH) activity, and cell counting kit-8 (CCK-8). Apoptosis was detected using flow cytometry analysis and caspase-3 activation. Endothelial inflammation was tested using monocyte adhesion assay and adhesion molecule expression. ROS production was detected by measuring the formation of lipid peroxidation malondialdehyde (MDA) through the thiobarbituric acid reactive substance (TBARS) assay. Peroxynitrite (ONOO⁻) formation was tested using the 3-nitrotyrosine ELISA kit. Iodixanol impaired cell viability, promoted vascular cell adhesion molecule-1 (VCAM-1) and intercellular cell adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1) expression, and induced cell apoptosis in human umbilical vein endothelial cells (HUVECs). However, D-4F mitigated these injuries. Furthermore, iodixanol induced the phosphorylation of protein kinase C (PKC) beta II, p47, Rac1, and endothelial nitric oxide synthase (eNOS) at Thr495, which elicited ROS release and ONOO⁻ generation. D-4F inhibited NADPH oxidase (NOX) activation, ROS production, and ONOO⁻ formation via the AMP-activated protein kinase (AMPK)/PKC pathway. Additionally, after an intravascular injection of iodixanol in Sprague Dawley rats, iodixanol induced a remarkable inflammatory response in arterial endothelial cells, although significant apoptosis and morphological changes were not observed. D-4F alleviated the vessel inflammation resulting from iodixanol in vivo. Collectively, besides scavenging ROS, D-4F could also suppress ROS production and ONOO⁻ formation through the AMPK/PKC pathway, which ameliorated oxidative injuries in endothelial cells. Hence, D-4F might serve as a potential agent in preventing CI-AKI.