Frontiers in Immunology (Nov 2021)

Nrf2 Promotes Inflammation in Early Myocardial Ischemia-Reperfusion via Recruitment and Activation of Macrophages

  • Haijian Zhang,
  • Haijian Zhang,
  • Yifei Liu,
  • Xiaoqing Cao,
  • Wenmiao Wang,
  • Xiaohong Cui,
  • Xuechao Yang,
  • Yan Wang,
  • Jiahai Shi,
  • Jiahai Shi

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3389/fimmu.2021.763760
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 12

Abstract

Read online

Cardiomyocyte apoptosis in response to inflammation is a primary cause of myocardial ischemia-reperfusion injury (IRI). Nuclear factor erythroid 2 like 2 (Nrf2) reportedly plays an important role in myocardial IRI, but the underlying mechanism remains obscure. Expression data from the normal heart tissues of mice or heart tissues treated with reperfusion for 6 h after ischemia (IR6h) were acquired from the GEO database; changes in biological function and infiltrating immune cells were analyzed. The binding between the molecules was verified by chromatin immunoprecipitation sequencing. Based on confirmation that early myocardial ischemia-reperfusion (myocardial ischemia/reperfusion for 6 hours, IR6h) promoted myocardial apoptosis and inflammatory response, we found that Nrf2, cooperating with Programmed Cell Death 4, promoted transcription initiation of C-C Motif Chemokine Ligand 3 (Ccl3) in myocardial tissues of mice treated with IR6h. Moreover, Ccl3 contributed to the high signature score of C-C motif chemokine receptor 1 (Ccr1)-positive macrophages. The high signature score of Ccr1-positive macrophages leads to the release of pro-inflammatory factors interleukin 1 beta and interleukin 6. This study is the first to elucidate the damaging effect of Nrf2 via remodeling of the immune microenvironment in early myocardial ischemia-reperfusion, which provides us with new perspectives and treatment strategies for myocardial ischemia-reperfusion.

Keywords