While exposure to long amphibolic asbestos fibers (L > 10 µm) results in the development of severe diseases including inflammation, fibrosis, and mesothelioma, the pathogenic activity associated with short fibers (L < 5 µm) is less clear. By exposing murine macrophages to short (SFA) or long (LFA) fibers of amosite asbestos different in size and surface chemistry, we observed that SFA internalization resulted in pyroptotic-related immunogenic cell death (ICD) characterized by the release of the pro-inflammatory damage signal (DAMP) IL-1α after inflammasome activation and gasdermin D (GSDMD)-pore formation. In contrast, macrophage responses to non-internalizable LFA were associated with tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α) release, caspase-3 and -7 activation, and apoptosis. SFA effects exclusively resulted from Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4), a pattern-recognition receptor (PRR) recognized for its ability to sense particles, while the response to LFA was elicited by a multifactorial ignition system involving the macrophage receptor with collagenous structure (SR-A6 or MARCO), reactive oxygen species (ROS) cascade, and TLR4. Our findings indicate that asbestos fiber size and surface features play major roles in modulating ICD and inflammatory pathways. They also suggest that SFA are biologically reactive in vitro and, therefore, their inflammatory and toxic effects in vivo should not be underestimated.
Keywords: IL-1α; TLR4; TNF-α; amosite asbestos; apoptosis; gasdermin D; immunogenic cell death; inflammation; macrophages; pyroptosis.