Hepatobiliary Center, The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Research Unit of Liver Transplantation and Transplant Immunology, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Nanjing, China; Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Cancer Biomarkers, Prevention and Treatment, Collaborative Innovation Center for Cancer Personalized Medicine, Nanjing Medical University, Nanjing, China.
Hepatobiliary Center, The First Affiliated Hospital of Nanjing Medical University, Research Unit of Liver Transplantation and Transplant Immunology, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Nanjing, China; School of Medicine, Southeast University, Nanjing, China.
Redox Biol. 2022 Jun;52:102305. doi: 10.1016/j.redox.2022.102305. Epub 2022 Mar 28.
Hepatocellular cell death and macrophage proinflammatory activation contribute to the pathology of various liver diseases, during which XBP1 plays an important role. However, the function and mechanism of XBP1 in thioacetamide (TAA)-induced acute liver injury (ALI) remains unknown. Here, we investigated the effects of XBP1 inhibition on promoting hepatocellular pyroptosis to activate macrophage STING signaling during ALI. While both TAA- and LPS-induced ALI triggered XBP1 activation in hepatocytes, hepatocyte-specific XBP1 knockout mice exhibited exacerbated ALI with increased hepatocellular pyroptosis and enhanced macrophage STING activation. Mechanistically, mtDNA released from TAA-stressed hepatocytes could be engulfed by macrophages, further inducing macrophage STING activation in a cGAS- and dose-dependent manner. XBP1 deficiency increased ROS production to promote hepatocellular pyroptosis by activating NLRP3/caspase-1/GSDMD signaling, which facilitated the extracellular release of mtDNA. Moreover, impaired mitophagy was found in XBP1 deficient hepatocytes, which was reversed by PINK1 overexpression. Mitophagy restoration also inhibited macrophage STING activation and ALI in XBP1 deficient mice. Activation of XBP1-mediated hepatocellular mitophagy and pyroptosis and macrophage STING signaling pathway were observed in human livers with ALI. Collectively, these findings demonstrate that XBP1 deficiency promotes hepatocyte pyroptosis by impairing mitophagy to activate mtDNA/cGAS/STING signaling of macrophages, providing potential therapeutic targets for ALI.
肝细胞死亡和巨噬细胞促炎激活导致各种肝脏疾病的发生,在此过程中 XBP1 发挥了重要作用。然而,XBP1 在硫代乙酰胺(TAA)诱导的急性肝损伤(ALI)中的功能和机制尚不清楚。在这里,我们研究了 XBP1 抑制在促进肝细胞焦亡以激活 ALI 期间巨噬细胞 STING 信号中的作用。虽然 TAA 和 LPS 诱导的 ALI 均触发了肝细胞中 XBP1 的激活,但肝细胞特异性 XBP1 敲除小鼠表现出更严重的 ALI,表现为肝细胞焦亡增加和巨噬细胞 STING 激活增强。在机制上,从 TAA 应激的肝细胞中释放的 mtDNA 可被巨噬细胞吞噬,进一步以 cGAS 和剂量依赖性方式诱导巨噬细胞 STING 激活。XBP1 缺失增加 ROS 产生,通过激活 NLRP3/caspase-1/GSDMD 信号促进肝细胞焦亡,从而促进 mtDNA 的细胞外释放。此外,还发现 XBP1 缺失的肝细胞中存在受损的线粒体自噬,而过表达 PINK1 可逆转这一现象。线粒体自噬的恢复也抑制了 XBP1 缺失小鼠的巨噬细胞 STING 激活和 ALI。在患有 ALI 的人类肝脏中观察到 XBP1 介导的肝细胞线粒体自噬和焦亡以及巨噬细胞 STING 信号通路的激活。总之,这些发现表明,XBP1 缺失通过损害线粒体自噬来促进肝细胞焦亡,从而激活巨噬细胞的 mtDNA/cGAS/STING 信号,为 ALI 提供了潜在的治疗靶点。