Linda L. Gibson

High-Density Lipoprotein Promotes Endothelial Cell Migration and Reendothelialization via Scavenger Receptor-B Type I

Vascular disease risk is inversely related to circulating levels of high-density lipoprotein (HDL) cholesterol. However, the mechanisms by which HDL provides vascular protection are unclear. The disruption of endothelial monolayer integrity is an important contributing factor in multiple vascular disorders, and vascular lesion severity is tempered by enhanced endothelial repair. Here, we show that HDL stimulates endothelial cell migration in vitro in a nitric oxide-independent manner via scavenger receptor B type I (SR-BI)-mediated activation of Rac GTPase. This process does not require HDL cargo molecules, and it is dependent on the activation of Src kinases, phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase, and p44/42 mitogen-activated protein kinases. Rapid initial stimulation of lamellipodia formation by HDL via SR-BI, Src kinases, and Rac is also demonstrable. Paralleling the in vitro findings, carotid artery reendothelialization after perivascular electric injury is blunted in apolipoprotein A-I−/− mice, and reconstitution of apolipoprotein A-I expression rescues normal reendothelialization. Furthermore, reendothelialization is impaired in SR-BI−/− mice. Thus, HDL stimulates endothelial cell migration via SR-BI-initiated signaling, and these mechanisms promote endothelial monolayer integrity in vivo.

Estrogen Causes Dynamic Alterations in Endothelial Estrogen Receptor Expression

Abstract— Estrogen receptor (ER)&agr; mediates many of the effects of estrogen on the vascular endothelium. The purpose of the present study was to determine whether estrogen modifies endothelial ER&agr; expression. In experiments in cultured ovine endothelial cells, physiological concentrations of 17&bgr;-estradiol (E2, 10−10 to 10−8 mol/L) caused an increase in ER&agr; protein abundance that was evident after 6 hours of hormone exposure. Shorter (2-hour) E2 treatment caused ER&agr; downregulation. In contrast to the upregulation in ER&agr; after long-term E2, the expression of the other ER isoform, ER&bgr;, was downregulated. Both nonselective ER antagonism with ICI 182,780 and the inhibition of gene transcription with actinomycin D blocked the increase in ER&agr; with E2. In studies using the human ER&agr; gene promoter P-1 coupled to luciferase, an increase in ER&agr; gene transcription was evident in endothelial cells within 4 hours of E2 exposure. The transcriptional activation was fully blocked by ICI 182,780, whereas the specific ER&bgr; antagonist RR-tetrahydrochrysene yielded partial blockade. Overexpression of ER&agr; or ER&bgr; caused comparable 10- and 8-fold increases, respectively, in ER&agr; promoter activation by E2. Thus, long-term exposure to E2 upregulates ER&agr; expression in endothelial cells through the actions of either ER&agr; or ER&bgr; on ER&agr; gene transcription; in contrast, E2 causes ER&bgr; downregulation in the endothelium. We postulate that E2-induced changes in ER&agr; and ER&bgr; expression modify the effects of the hormone on vascular endothelium.

FcγRIIB Mediates C-Reactive Protein Inhibition of Endothelial NO Synthase

C-reactive protein (CRP) is an acute-phase reactant that is positively correlated with cardiovascular disease risk and endothelial dysfunction. Whether CRP has direct actions on endothelium and the mechanisms underlying such actions are unknown. Here we show in cultured endothelium that CRP prevents endothelial NO synthase (eNOS) activation by diverse agonists, resulting in the promotion of monocyte adhesion. CRP antagonism of eNOS occurs nongenomically and is attributable to blunted eNOS phosphorylation at Ser1179. Okadaic acid or knockdown of PP2A by short-interference RNA reverses CRP antagonism of eNOS, indicating a key role for the phosphatase. Aggregated IgG, the known ligand for Fc&ggr; receptors, causes parallel okadaic acid–sensitive loss of eNOS function, Fc&ggr;RIIB expression is demonstrable in endothelium, and heterologous expression studies reveal that CRP antagonism of eNOS requires Fc&ggr;RIIB. In Fc&ggr;RIIB+/+ mice, CRP blunts acetylcholine-induced increases in carotid artery vascular conductance; in contrast, CRP enhances acetylcholine responses in Fc&ggr;RIIB−/− mice. Thus Fc&ggr;RIIB mediates CRP inhibition of eNOS via PP2A, providing a mechanistic link between CRP and endothelial dysfunction.

C-Reactive Protein Causes Downregulation of Vascular Angiotensin Subtype 2 Receptors and Systolic Hypertension in Mice

Background— Chronic elevations in circulating C-reactive protein (CRP) are associated with a greater risk of hypertension. Whether elevations in CRP cause hypertension is unknown. Methods and Results— Chronic, conscious blood pressure (BP) measurements were performed by radiotelemetry in wild-type CF1 control and CF1 transgenic mice expressing rabbit CRP (CF1-CRP) under the regulation of the phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase promoter. Compared with controls, CF1-CRP mice had hypertension that was predominantly systolic, and the severity of hypertension varied in parallel with changes in CRP levels modulated by dietary manipulation. Mice that were hemizygous for the transgene with CRP levels of 9 &mgr;g/mL were also hypertensive, indicating that modest elevations in CRP are sufficient to alter BP. CRP transgenic mice had exaggerated BP elevation in response to angiotensin II and a reduction in vascular angiotensin receptor subtype 2 (AT2) expression. In contrast, the decline in BP with angiotensin receptor subtype 1 (AT1) antagonism and vascular AT1 abundance were unaltered, which indicates a selective effect of CRP on AT2. Ex vivo experiments further showed that the CRP-induced decrease in AT2 is a direct effect on the vascular wall, not requiring systemic responses, and that it is reversed by an NO donor, which indicates a role for NO deficiency in the process. In parallel, the chronic inhibition of NO synthase in wild-type mice attenuated vascular AT2 expression without affecting AT1. Conclusions— These findings provide direct evidence for CRP-induced hypertension, and they further identify a novel underlying mechanism involving downregulation of AT2 related to NO deficiency.

C-Reactive Protein Downregulates Endothelial NO Synthase and Attenuates Reendothelialization In Vivo in Mice

C-reactive protein (CRP) is an acute-phase reactant that is positively associated with cardiovascular disease risk and endothelial dysfunction. In cell culture, CRP decreases the expression of endothelial NO synthase (eNOS), which regulates diverse endothelial cell (EC) functions including migration. To determine whether CRP alters EC gene expression and phenotype in vivo, we studied CF1 transgenic mice expressing rabbit CRP (CF1-CRP) regulated by the phosphoenolpyruvate carboxykinase promoter such that levels could be altered by changing carbohydrate intake. Compared with CF1 controls with CRP of <1 &mgr;g/mL, carotid artery reendothelialization after perivascular electric injury was blunted in CF1-CRP mice, with CRP levels as low as 9 &mgr;g/mL. eNOS mRNA and enzyme abundance in carotid arteries was also blunted by CRP at 9 &mgr;g/mL in vivo, and ex vivo studies of isolated arteries showed that this occurs via direct action on the endothelium. The impaired reendothelialization with CRP was mimicked by NOS antagonism in CF1 mice; conversely, in cultured ECs CRP attenuation of migration was prevented by exogenous NO. Studies of EC transfected with human eNOS 5′ flanking sequence fused to luciferase indicated that CRP decreases eNOS gene transcription. Both mutagenesis and electrophoretic mobility shift assays further revealed that CRP-responsive elements reside within the first 79 bp of the eNOS promoter. Thus, CRP downregulates eNOS and attenuates reendothelialization in vivo in mice, and this action of CRP on eNOS is mediated at the level of gene transcription.

Surfactant composition and function in a primate model of infant chronic lung disease: Effects of inhaled nitric oxide

Bronchopulmonary dysplasia, or chronic lung disease (CLD), of premature infants involves injury from hyperoxia and mechanical ventilation to an immature lung. We examined surfactant and nitric oxide (NO), which are developmentally deficient in premature infants, in the baboon model of developing CLD. Fetuses were delivered at 125 d gestation and were managed for 14 d with ventilation and oxygen prn without (controls) or with inhaled NO at 5 ppm. Compared with term infants, premature control infants had reduced maximal lung volume, decreased tissue content of surfactant proteins SP-A, -B, and -C, abnormal lavage surfactant as assessed by pulsating bubble surfactometer, and a low concentration of SP-B/phospholipid. NO treatment significantly increased maximal lung volume and tissue SP-A and SP-C, reduced recovery of lavage surfactant by 33%, decreased the total protein:phospholipid ratio of surfactant by 50%, and had no effect on phospholipid composition or SP content except for SP-C (50%). In both treatment groups, levels of SP-B and SP-C in surfactant were negatively correlated with STmin, with a 5-fold greater SP efficiency for NO versus control animals. By contrast, lung volume and compliance were not correlated with surfactant function. We conclude that surfactant is often dysfunctional in developing CLD secondary to SP-B deficiency. NO treatment improves the apparent ability of hydrophobic SP to promote low surface tension, perhaps secondary to less protein inactivation of surfactant, and improves lung volume by a process unrelated to surfactant function.

Molecular Basis of Estrogen-Induced Cyclooxygenase Type 1 Upregulation in Endothelial Cells

Estrogen upregulates cyclooxygenase-1 (COX-1) expression in endothelial cells. To determine the basis of this process, studies were performed in ovine endothelial cells transfected with the human COX-1 promoter fused to luciferase. Estradiol (E2) caused activation of the COX-1 promoter with maximal stimulation at 10−8 mol/L E2, and the response was mediated by either ER&agr; or ER&bgr;. Mutagenesis revealed a primary role for a putative Sp1 binding motif at −89 (relative to the ATG codon) and lesser involvement of a consensus Sp1 site at −111. Electrophoretic mobility shift assays yielded a single complex with the site at −89, and supershift analyses implicated AP-2&agr; and ER&agr;, and not Sp1, in protein-DNA complex formation. In endothelial cells with minimal endogenous ER, the transfection of ER&agr; mutants lacking the DNA binding domain or primary nuclear localization signals caused 4-fold greater stimulation of promoter activity with E2 than wild-type ER&agr;. In contrast, mutant ER&agr; lacking the A-B domains was inactive. Thus, estrogen-mediated upregulation of COX-1 in endothelium is uniquely independent of direct ER&agr;-DNA binding and instead entails protein-DNA interaction involving AP-2&agr; and ER&agr; at a proximal regulatory element. In addition, the process may be initiated by cytoplasmic ER&agr;, and critical receptor elements reside within the amino terminus.