He Siyuan, Li Wanqian, Wang Guoqing, Wang Xiaotang, Fan Wei, Zhang Zhi, Li Na, Hou Shengping
The First Affiliated Hospital of Chongqing Medical University, Chongqing 400016, China.
Chongqing Key Laboratory of Ophthalmology, Chongqing 400016, China.
Genes Dis. 2022 Oct 4;10(5):2179-2193. doi: 10.1016/j.gendis.2022.09.008. eCollection 2023 Sep.
Uveitis, a vision-threatening inflammatory disease worldwide, is closely related to resident microglia. Retinal microglia are the main immune effector cells with strong plasticity, but their role in uveitis remains unclear. N6-methyladenosine (mA) modification has been proven to be involved in the immune response. Therefore, we in this work aimed to identify the potentially crucial mA regulators of microglia in uveitis. Through the single-cell sequencing (scRNA-seq) analysis and experimental verification, we found a significant decrease in the expression of fat mass and obesity-associated protein (FTO) in retinal microglia of uveitis mice and human microglia clone 3 (HMC3) cells with inflammation. Additionally, knockdown was found to aggravate the secretion of inflammatory factors and the mobility/chemotaxis of microglia. Mechanistically, the RNA-seq data and rescue experiments showed that glypican 4 (GPC4) was the target of FTO, which regulated microglial inflammation mediated by the TLR4/NF-κB pathway. Moreover, RNA stability assays indicated that GPC4 upregulation was mainly regulated by the downregulation of the mA "reader" YTH domain family protein 3 (YTHDF3). Finally, the FTO inhibitor FB23-2 further exacerbated experimental autoimmune uveitis (EAU) inflammation by promoting the GPC4/TLR4/NF-κB signaling axis, and this could be attenuated by the TLR4 inhibitor TAK-242. Collectively, a decreased FTO could facilitate microglial inflammation in EAU, suggesting that the restoration or activation of FTO function may be a potential therapeutic strategy for uveitis.
葡萄膜炎是一种在全球范围内威胁视力的炎症性疾病,与视网膜常驻小胶质细胞密切相关。视网膜小胶质细胞是具有强大可塑性的主要免疫效应细胞,但其在葡萄膜炎中的作用仍不清楚。N6-甲基腺苷(m⁶A)修饰已被证明参与免疫反应。因此,我们在这项研究中旨在确定葡萄膜炎中潜在关键的小胶质细胞m⁶A调节剂。通过单细胞测序(scRNA-seq)分析和实验验证,我们发现葡萄膜炎小鼠视网膜小胶质细胞和炎症状态下的人小胶质细胞克隆3(HMC3)细胞中,脂肪量和肥胖相关蛋白(FTO)的表达显著降低。此外,发现敲低FTO会加剧小胶质细胞炎症因子的分泌以及其迁移/趋化性。机制上,RNA测序数据和拯救实验表明,磷脂酰肌醇蛋白聚糖4(GPC4)是FTO的靶点,其通过Toll样受体4(TLR4)/核因子κB(NF-κB)途径调节小胶质细胞炎症。此外,RNA稳定性分析表明,GPC4的上调主要受m⁶A“读取器”YTH结构域家族蛋白3(YTHDF3)下调的调节。最后,FTO抑制剂FB23-2通过促进GPC4/TLR4/NF-κB信号轴进一步加重实验性自身免疫性葡萄膜炎(EAU)炎症,而这可被TLR4抑制剂TAK-242减弱。总体而言,FTO降低会促进EAU中小胶质细胞炎症,这表明恢复或激活FTO功能可能是葡萄膜炎的一种潜在治疗策略。