Deficient Chaperone-Mediated Autophagy Promotes Inflammation and Atherosclerosis

作者：Lei Qiao, Jing Ma, Zihao Zhang, Wenhai Sui, Chungang Zhai, Dan Xu, Zunzhe Wang, Huixia Lu, Meng Zhang, Cheng Zhang, Wenqiang Chen, Yun Zhang · 发表于：Circulation Research · 年份：2021 · DOI：10.1161/circresaha.121.318908 · 被引用次数：184 · 研究领域：Inflammasome and immune disorders、Autophagy in Disease and Therapy、Cholesterol and Lipid Metabolism

Rationale: The NLRP3 (NLR [NOD-like receptor] family, pyrin domain containing 3) inflammasome is an important driver of atherosclerosis. Our previous study shows that chaperone-mediated autophagy (CMA), one of the main lysosomal degradative process, has a regulatory role in lipid metabolism of macrophages. However, whether the NLRP3 inflammasome is regulated by CMA, and the role of CMA in atherosclerosis remains unclear. Objective: To determine the role of CMA in the regulation of NLRP3 inflammasome and atherosclerosis. Methods and Results: The expression of CMA marker, LAMP-2A (lysosome-associated membrane protein type 2A), was first analyzed in ApoE −/− mouse aortas and human coronary atherosclerotic plaques, and a significant downregulation of LAMP-2A in advanced atherosclerosis in both mice and humans was observed. To selectively block CMA, we generated macrophage-specific conditional LAMP-2A knockout mouse strains in C57BL/6 mice and ApoE −/− mice. Deletion of macrophage LAMP-2A accelerated atherosclerotic lesion formation in the aortic root and the whole aorta in ApoE −/− mice. Mechanistically, LAMP-2A deficiency promoted NLRP3 inflammasome activation and subsequent release of mature IL (interleukin)-1β in macrophages and atherosclerotic plaques. Furthermore, gain-of-function studies verified that restoration of LAMP-2A levels in LAMP-2A–deficient macrophages greatly attenuated NLRP3 inflammasome activation. Importantly, we identified the NLRP3 protein as a CMA substrat...