Self-extracellular RNA acts in synergy with exogenous danger signals to promote inflammation

PLoS One. 2017 Dec 20;12(12):e0190002. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0190002. eCollection 2017.

Abstract

Self-extracellular RNA (eRNA), released from stressed or injured cells upon various pathological situations such as ischemia-reperfusion-injury, has been shown to act as an alarmin by inducing procoagulatory and proinflammatory responses. In particular, M1-polarization of macrophages by eRNA resulted in the expression and release of a variety of cytokines, including tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α or interleukin-6 (IL-6). The present study now investigates in which way self-eRNA may influence the response of macrophages towards various Toll-like receptor (TLR)-agonists. Isolated agonists of TLR2 (Pam2CSK4), TLR3 (PolyIC), TLR4 (LPS), or TLR7 (R848) induced the release of TNF-α in a concentration-dependent manner in murine macrophages, differentiated from bone marrow-derived stem cells by mouse colony stimulating factor. Here, the presence of eRNA shifted the dose-response curve for Pam2CSK4 (Pam) considerably to the left, indicating that eRNA synergistically enhanced the cytokine liberation from macrophages even at very low Pam-levels. The synergistic activation of TLR2 by eRNA/Pam was duplicated by other TLR2-agonists such as FSL-1 or Pam3CSK4. In contrast, for TLR4-agonists such as LPS a synergistic effect of eRNA was much weaker, and was not existent for TLR3-, or TLR7-agonists. The synergistic eRNA/Pam action was dependent on the NFκB-signaling pathway as well as on p38MAP- and MEK1/ERK-kinases and was prevented by predigestion of eRNA with RNase1 or by antibodies against TLR2. Thus, the presence of self-eRNA as alarming molecule sensitizes innate immune responses towards pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs) in a synergistic way and may thereby contribute to the differentiated outcome of inflammatory responses.

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Cytokines / metabolism
  • Diglycerides / pharmacology
  • Extracellular Space / metabolism*
  • Inflammation / metabolism*
  • Lipopeptides / pharmacology
  • Macrophages / drug effects
  • Macrophages / metabolism
  • Mice, Inbred C57BL
  • Oligopeptides / pharmacology
  • Pathogen-Associated Molecular Pattern Molecules / metabolism
  • RNA / metabolism*
  • Signal Transduction* / drug effects
  • Time Factors
  • Toll-Like Receptors / antagonists & inhibitors
  • Toll-Like Receptors / metabolism

Substances

  • Cytokines
  • Diglycerides
  • FSL-1 lipoprotein, synthetic
  • Lipopeptides
  • Oligopeptides
  • Pam2CSK4 lipopeptide
  • Pathogen-Associated Molecular Pattern Molecules
  • Toll-Like Receptors
  • RNA

Grants and funding

Studies were generously supported by grants to K.T. Preissner, S. Fischer, and H. Müller-Redetzky from the German Research Foundation (DFG, Bonn, Germany, http://www.dfg.de), including SFB TR84 (SF and HM-R), FI 543/4-1 (SF), the Excellence Cluster-Cardiopulmonary System (KTP, ECCPS, Giessen, Germany, http://eccps.de), by the Behring-Röntgen Foundation (SF, Marburg, Germany, 61-0040), the LOEWE Network “Medical RNomics“ (KTP, Wiesbaden, Germany), and a stipend awarded to F. Noll by the German Academic Scholarship Foundation and the Pregraduate College of the Medical Faculty of the Justus-Liebig-University Giessen.