Mechanism of acupuncture in attenuating cerebral ischaemia-reperfusion injury based on nuclear receptor coactivator 4 mediated ferritinophagy

OBJECTIVE:To explore the effect of acupuncture treatment on cerebral ischaemia-reperfusion injury(CIRI)and reveal the underlying mechanism of the effect based on nuclear receptor coactivator 4(NCOA4)mediated ferritinophagy.METHODS:Sprague-Dawley male rats were divided into four groups:the sham group,model group,acupuncture group,and sham acupuncture group.After 2 h of middle cerebral artery occlusion(MCAO),reperfusion was performed for 24 h to induce CIRI.The rats were treated with acupuncture at the Neiguan(PC6)and Shuigou(GV26)acupoints.Their neurological function was evaluated by taking their Bederson scores at 2 h after ischaemia and 24 h after reperfusion.Triphenyltetrazolium chloride staining was applied to assess the cerebral infarct volume at 24 h after reperfusion.The malondialdehyde(MDA)and ferrous iron(Fe^(2+))levels were observed after 24 h of reperfusion using an assay kit.Western blotting was performed to detect the expression of NCOA4 and ferritin heavy chain 1(FTH1)at 24 h after reperfusion.Moreover,the colocalization of ferritin with neurons,NCOA4 with microtubule-associated protein 1 light chain 3(LC3),and NCOA4 with ferritin was visualized using immunofluorescence staining.RESULTS:Acupuncture significantly improved neurological function and decreased cerebral infarct volume in the acupuncture group.Following CIRI,the expression of NCOA4,LC3 and FTH1 was increased,which enhanced ferritinophagy and induced an inappropriate accumulation of Fe^(2+)and MDA in the ischaemic brain.However,acupuncture dramatically downregulated the expression of NCOA4,LC3 and FTH1,inhibited the overactivation of ferritinophagy,and decreased the levels of MDA and Fe^(2+).CONCLUSIONS:Acupuncture can inhibit NCOA4-mediated ferritinophagy and protect neurons against CIRI in a rat model.

Nuclear receptor coactivator 6 is a critical regulator of NLRP3 inflammasome activation and gouty arthritis

Transcriptional coactivators regulate the rate of gene expression in the nucleus.Nuclear receptor coactivator 6(NCOA6),a coactivator,has been implicated in embryonic development,metabolism,and cancer pathogenesis,but its role in innate immunity and inflammatory diseases remains unclear.Here,we demonstrated that NCOA6 was expressed in monocytes and macrophages and that its level was increased under proinflammatory conditions.Unexpectedly,nuclear NCOA6 was found to translocate to the cytoplasm in activated monocytes and then become incorporated into the inflammasome with NLRP3 and ASC,forming cytoplasmic specks.Mechanistically,NCOA6 associated with the ATP hydrolysis motifs in the NACHT domain of NLRP3,promoting the oligomerization of NLRP3 and ASC and thereby instigating the production of IL-1βand active caspase-1.Of note,Ncoa6 deficiency markedly inhibited NLRP3 hyperactivation caused by the Nlrp3^(R258W) gain-of-function mutation in macrophages.Genetic ablation of Ncoa6 substantially attenuated the severity of two NLRP3-dependent diseases,folic-induced acute tubular necrosis and crystal-induced arthritis,in mice.Consistent with these findings,NCOA6 was highly expressed in macrophages derived from gout patients,and NCOA6-positive macrophages were significantly enriched in gout macrophages according to the transcriptome profiling results.Conclusively,NCOA6 is a critical regulator of NLRP3 inflammasome activation and is therefore a promising target for NLRP3-dependent diseases,including gout.

Inhibition of autophagy rescues HT22 hippocampal neurons from erastin-induced ferroptosis

Ferroptosis is a regulated form of cell death which is considered an oxidative iron-dependent process.The lipid hydroperoxidase glutathione peroxidase 4 prevents the iron(Fe2+)-dependent formation of toxic lipid reactive oxygen species.While emerging evidence indicates that inhibition of glutathione peroxidase 4 as a hallmark of ferroptosis in many cancer cell lines,the involvement of this biochemical pathway in neuronal death remains largely unclear.Here,we investigate,first whether the ferroptosis key players are involved in the neuronal cell death induced by erastin.The second objective was to examine whether there is a cross talk between ferroptosis and autophagy.The third main was to address neuron response to erastin,with a special focus on ferritin and nuclear receptor coactivator 4-mediated ferritinophagy.To test this in neurons,erastin(0.5-8μM)was applied to hippocampal HT22 neurons for 16 hours.In addition,cells were cultured with the autophagy inhibitor,3-methyladenin(10 mM)and/or ferroptosis inhibitors,ferrostatin 1(10-20μM)or deferoxamine(10-200μM)before exposure to erastin.In this study,we demonstrated by immunofluorescence and western blot analysis,that erastin downregulates dramatically the expression of glutathione peroxidase 4,the sodium-independent cystine-glutamate antiporter and nuclear receptor coactivator 4.The protein levels of ferritin and mitochondrial ferritin in HT22 hippocampal neurons did not remarkably change following erastin treatment.In addition,we demonstrated that not only the ferroptosis inhibitor,ferrostatin1/deferoxamine abrogated the ferroptotic cell death induced by erastin in hippocampal HT22 neurons,but also the potent autophagy inhibitor,3-methyladenin.We conclude that(1)erastin-induced ferroptosis in hippocampal HT22 neurons,despite reduced nuclear receptor coactivator 4 levels,(2)that either nuclear receptor coactivator 4-mediated ferritinophagy does not occur or is of secondary importance in this model,(3)that ferroptosis seems to share some features of the autophagic cell death process.