González-Arce Aránzazu, Sánchez-López Christian M, Sánchez-Palencia Liz F, Marcilla Antonio, Bernal Dolores
Parasites and Health Group, Àrea de Parasitologia, Departament de Farmàcia i Tecnologia Farmacèutica i Parasitologia, Facultat de Farmàcia i Ciències de l'Alimentació Universitat de València Valencia Spain.
Joint Research Unit on Endocrinology, Nutrition and Clinical Dietetics Health Research IIS La Fe-Universitat de València Valencia Spain.
J Extracell Biol. 2025 Jun 2;4(6):e70055. doi: 10.1002/jex2.70055. eCollection 2025 Jun.
Fasciolosis, caused by , is a parasitic zoonosis that induces liver fibrosis in infected hosts, including ruminants and humans. Extracellular vesicles secreted by (EVs) play a crucial role in modulating host immune responses and promoting tissue re-modelling. This work explores the effects of two proteins found in EVs, enolase (enolase), enriched in the vesicular lumen, as well as the 16.5-kDa tegument-associated protein (16.5TP), highly abundant in the EV membrane, on hepatic and liver-associated immune cells. Recombinant proteins (r-enolase and r-16.5TP) were produced to evaluate their impact on cell viability, inflammatory responses, proteomic profiles and EV secretion in THP1-XBlue CD14 macrophages, HepG2 hepatocytes and LX-2 hepatic stellate cells (HSCs). Interestingly, r-enolase, but not r-16.5TP, showed anti-inflammatory properties in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-activated macrophages, by reducing NF-κB activation and inducing significant changes in the protein cargo of macrophage-derived EVs, which contained lower levels of the pro-inflammatory cytokines IL-1β, TNF-α and IL-6. Proteomic analysis of cells treated with r-enolase revealed distinct alterations in proteins related to fibrotic and inflammatory pathways, including a reduction in extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins and suggesting a potential role in mitigating liver fibrosis. Furthermore, r-enolase reduced EV production and fibrotic markers in hepatic cells, but not in macrophages. In contrast, r-16.5TP increased pro-fibrotic proteins in both, cells and EVs, and increased EV production specifically in LX-2 cells, indicating its possible contribution to fibrosis progression in fasciolosis. These findings represent a first approach to analyse EV-associated proteins and study their potential role in the molecular mechanisms of -host interactions.
由肝片吸虫引起的肝片吸虫病是一种寄生虫人畜共患病,可在包括反刍动物和人类在内的受感染宿主中诱发肝纤维化。肝片吸虫分泌的细胞外囊泡(EVs)在调节宿主免疫反应和促进组织重塑中起关键作用。这项研究探讨了在EVs中发现的两种蛋白质的作用,即富含于囊泡腔内的烯醇化酶(enolase)以及在EV膜中高度丰富的16.5 kDa皮层相关蛋白(16.5TP)对肝脏及与肝脏相关的免疫细胞的影响。制备了重组蛋白(r-烯醇化酶和r-16.5TP),以评估它们对THP1-XBlue CD14巨噬细胞、HepG2肝细胞和LX-2肝星状细胞(HSCs)的细胞活力、炎症反应、蛋白质组图谱和EV分泌的影响。有趣的是,r-烯醇化酶而非r-16.5TP在脂多糖(LPS)激活的巨噬细胞中显示出抗炎特性,它通过降低NF-κB激活并诱导巨噬细胞衍生的EVs的蛋白质货物发生显著变化,这些EVs中促炎细胞因子IL-1β、TNF-α和IL-6的水平较低。对用r-烯醇化酶处理的细胞进行蛋白质组分析发现,与纤维化和炎症途径相关的蛋白质有明显改变,包括细胞外基质(ECM)蛋白减少,这表明其在减轻肝纤维化方面可能发挥作用。此外,r-烯醇化酶减少了肝细胞中的EV产生和纤维化标志物,但在巨噬细胞中没有。相反,r-16.5TP增加了细胞和EVs中的促纤维化蛋白,并特别在LX-2细胞中增加了EV产生,表明其可能对肝片吸虫病的纤维化进展有贡献。这些发现代表了分析与EV相关的蛋白质并研究它们在宿主相互作用分子机制中的潜在作用的首次尝试。