Environmental Health and Disease Laboratory, Department of Environmental and Occupational Health, Program in Public Health, Susan and Henry Samueli College of Health Sciences, University of California, Irvine, CA 92697, USA.
Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Ernest Mario School of Pharmacy, Rutgers University, Piscataway, NJ 08854, USA.
Int J Mol Sci. 2023 Nov 15;24(22):16354. doi: 10.3390/ijms242216354.
Harmful algal bloom toxin microcystin has been associated with metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD) progression and hepatocellular carcinoma, though the mechanisms remain unclear. Using an established mouse model of MASLD, we show that the NLRP3-Hsp70-TLR4 axis drives in part the inflammation of the liver lobule that results in the progression of MASLD to metabolic dysfunction-associated steatohepatitis (MASH). Results showed that mice deficient in NLRP3 exhibited decreased MASH pathology, blocked Hsp70 expression, and co-binding with NLRP3, a crucial protein component of the liver inflammasome. Hsp70, both in the liver lobule and extracellularly released in the liver vasculature, acted as a ligand to TLR4 in the liver, primarily in hepatocytes to activate the NF-κB pathway, ultimately leading to hepatic cell death and necroptosis, a crucial pathology of MASH progression. The above studies show a novel insight into an inflammasome-triggered Hsp70-mediated inflammation that may have broader implications in MASLD pathology. MASLD to MASH progression often requires multiple hits. One of the mediators of progressive MASLD is environmental toxins. In this research report, we show for the first time a novel mechanism where microcystin-LR, an environmental toxin, advances MASLD to MASH by triggering the release of Hsp70 as a DAMP to activate TLR4-induced inflammation in the liver.
有害藻类 bloom 毒素微囊藻毒素与代谢功能障碍相关的脂肪性肝病 (MASLD) 进展和肝细胞癌有关,尽管其机制尚不清楚。本研究使用 MASLD 的既定小鼠模型,结果表明 NLRP3-Hsp70-TLR4 轴部分驱动了肝小叶炎症,导致 MASLD 向代谢功能障碍相关脂肪性肝炎 (MASH) 进展。结果表明,NLRP3 缺陷小鼠表现出 MASH 病理学减少,Hsp70 表达受阻,并与 NLRP3 共结合,后者是肝炎症小体的关键蛋白组成部分。Hsp70 既存在于肝小叶中,也在肝脉管系统中释放到细胞外,在肝中作为 TLR4 的配体起作用,主要在肝细胞中激活 NF-κB 途径,最终导致肝细胞死亡和坏死,这是 MASH 进展的关键病理学。上述研究为炎症小体触发的 HSP70 介导的炎症提供了新的见解,这可能对 MASLD 病理学具有更广泛的意义。MASLD 向 MASH 的进展通常需要多次打击。渐进性 MASLD 的一种介质是环境毒素。在本研究报告中,我们首次展示了一种新的机制,即环境毒素微囊藻毒素-LR 通过触发 HSP70 的释放作为 DAMPs 来激活 TLR4 诱导的肝炎症,从而将 MASLD 推进到 MASH。
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