Xiang Yan, Jiang Yuyu, Wang Zeting, Wang Xiaohui, Ma Lijie, Ding Yingying, Rui Bing, Zhao Chunyan, Li Xiangyu, Xu Mingyuan, Zhang Yunkai, Zhan Zhenzhen, Liu Xingguang
National Key Laboratory of Immunity & Inflammation, Naval Medical University, Shanghai, China.
Department of Pathogen Biology, Naval Medical University, Shanghai, China.
Cell Death Differ. 2025 Jul 21. doi: 10.1038/s41418-025-01547-y.
Psoriasis is a persistent inflammatory skin disease characterized by the adverse infiltration of inflammatory cells and epidermal hyperplasia. Self-RNA is the most abundant damage-associated molecular pattern (DAMP) in psoriasis tissues, which triggers and amplifies inflammatory responses through TLR7 pathway. However, the pathogenic effects of self-RNA on immune cell activation and chemotaxis during psoriasis and the underlying mechanisms remain largely unknown. Epigenetic modifications are widely acknowledged to link the environmental signals to gene expression in various immune cells, whose dysfunction tends to cause or worsen various inflammatory diseases. Through a comprehensive analysis of histone modifications in lesional skin from both psoriasis patients and mice, the significantly increased level of histone acetylation at H4 lysine 16 (H4K16ac) in macrophages was found, which was positively correlated with the accumulation of self-RNA in the dermis and psoriasis pathology. Further studies showed that lysine acetyltransferase 8 (KAT8) was responsible for self-RNA-driven H4K16ac modification and psoriasis-associated pathogenic chemokine expression in macrophages of lesional skin. Mechanistically, KAT8 was selectively recruited to the gene promoters of pathogenic chemokines including Cxcl2 and Ccl3 through interaction with AP-1 transcription complex. The auto-acetylation of KAT8 enhanced its acetyltransferase activity. KAT8-mediated H4K16ac modification at these chemokine promoters, coupling with increased chromatin accessibility, facilitated the production and secretion of pro-inflammatory chemokines CXCL2 and CCL3 for neutrophil chemotaxis, neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs) formation and aggravated inflammatory damage in psoriasis. KAT8 deficiency in macrophages or pharmacological inhibition restricted the secretion of macrophage-derived pro-inflammatory chemokines and ameliorated TLR7-dependent tissue inflammatory injury in experimental psoriasis and arthritis model. Taken together, our finding provides new insight into the role of epigenetic modification in self-RNA/TLR7 pathway-dependent immune cell activation and chemotaxis during psoriasis, which proposes the promising therapeutic strategy to control the inflammatory damage and psoriatic skin dysfunction by targeting KAT8 and KAT8-mediated H4K16ac modification in dermis macrophages.
银屑病是一种持续性炎症性皮肤病,其特征为炎症细胞的不良浸润和表皮增生。自身RNA是银屑病组织中最丰富的损伤相关分子模式(DAMP),它通过TLR7途径触发并放大炎症反应。然而,自身RNA在银屑病期间对免疫细胞激活和趋化作用的致病效应及其潜在机制在很大程度上仍不清楚。表观遗传修饰被广泛认为可将环境信号与各种免疫细胞中的基因表达联系起来,其功能障碍往往会导致或加重各种炎症性疾病。通过对银屑病患者和小鼠病变皮肤中组蛋白修饰的综合分析,发现巨噬细胞中H4赖氨酸16(H4K16ac)处的组蛋白乙酰化水平显著升高,这与真皮中自身RNA的积累和银屑病病理呈正相关。进一步研究表明,赖氨酸乙酰转移酶8(KAT8)负责病变皮肤巨噬细胞中自身RNA驱动的H4K16ac修饰和银屑病相关致病趋化因子的表达。机制上,KAT8通过与AP-1转录复合体相互作用被选择性招募到包括Cxcl2和Ccl3在内的致病趋化因子的基因启动子处。KAT8的自身乙酰化增强了其乙酰转移酶活性。KAT8介导的这些趋化因子启动子处的H4K16ac修饰,与染色质可及性增加相结合,促进了促炎趋化因子CXCL2和CCL3的产生和分泌,用于中性粒细胞趋化、中性粒细胞胞外陷阱(NETs)形成,并加重了银屑病中的炎症损伤。巨噬细胞中KAT8缺陷或药物抑制可限制巨噬细胞衍生的促炎趋化因子的分泌,并改善实验性银屑病和关节炎模型中TLR7依赖性组织炎症损伤。综上所述,我们的发现为表观遗传修饰在银屑病期间自身RNA/TLR7途径依赖性免疫细胞激活和趋化作用中的作用提供了新的见解,这提出了通过靶向真皮巨噬细胞中的KAT8和KAT8介导的H4K16ac修饰来控制炎症损伤和银屑病皮肤功能障碍的有前景的治疗策略。
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