Background: Although the dominant product of vascular Cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2), prostacyclin (PGI(2)), restrains atherogenesis, inhibition and deletion of COX-2 have yielded conflicting results in mouse models of atherosclerosis. Floxed mice were used to parse distinct cellular contributions of COX-2 in macrophages and T cells (TCs) to atherogenesis.
Methods and results: Deletion of macrophage-COX-2 (Mac-COX-2KOs) was attained with LysMCre mice and completely suppressed lipopolysaccharide-stimulated macrophage prostaglandin (PG) formation and lipopolysaccharide-evoked systemic PG biosynthesis by approximately 30%. Lipopolysaccharide-stimulated COX-2 expression was suppressed in polymorphonuclear leukocytes isolated from MacKOs, but PG formation was not even detected in polymorphonuclear leukocyte supernatants from control mice. Atherogenesis was attenuated when MacKOs were crossed into hyperlipidemic low-density lipoprotein receptor knockouts. Deletion of Mac-COX-2 appeared to remove a restraint on COX-2 expression in lesional nonleukocyte (CD45- and CD11b-negative) vascular cells that express vascular cell adhesion molecule and variably alpha-smooth muscle actin and vimentin, portending a shift in PG profile and consequent atheroprotection. Basal expression of COX-2 was minimal in TCs, but use of CD4Cre to generate TC knockouts depressed its modest upregulation by anti-CD3epsilon. However, biosynthesis of PGs, TC composition in lymphatic organs, and atherogenesis in low-density lipoprotein receptor knockouts were unaltered in TC knockouts.
Conclusions: Macrophage-COX-2, primarily a source of thromboxane A(2) and prostaglandin (PG)E(2), promotes atherogenesis and exerts a restraint on enzyme expression by lesional cells suggestive of vascular smooth muscle cells, a prominent source of atheroprotective prostacyclin. TC COX-2 does not detectably influence TC development or function or atherogenesis in mice.