Asprosin Exerts Pro-Inflammatory Effects in THP-1 Macrophages Mediated via the Toll-like Receptor 4 (TLR4) Pathway

Kiran Shabir, Seley Gharanei, Sophie Orton, Vanlata Patel, Parbata Chauhan, Emmanouil Karteris, Harpal S. Randeva, James E. Brown, Ioannis Kyrou

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    Abstract

    Adipose tissue is a dynamic endocrine organ, secreting a plethora of adipokines which play a key role in regulating metabolic homeostasis and other physiological processes. An altered adipokine secretion profile from adipose tissue depots has been associated with obesity and related cardio-metabolic diseases. Asprosin is a recently described adipokine that is released in response to fasting and can elicit orexigenic and glucogenic effects. Circulating asprosin levels are elevated in a number of cardio-metabolic diseases, including obesity and type 2 diabetes. In vitro studies have reported pro-inflammatory effects of asprosin in a variety of tissues. The present study aimed to further elucidate the role of asprosin in inflammation by exploring its potential effect(s) in THP-1 macrophages. THP-1 monocytes were differentiated to macrophages by 48 h treatment with dihydroxyvitamin D3. Macrophages were treated with 100 nM recombinant human asprosin, 100 ng/mL lipopolysaccharide (LPS), and 10 μM caffeic acid phenethyl ester (CAPE; an inhibitor of NFκB activation) or 1 µM TAK-242 (a Toll-like receptor 4, TLR4, inhibitor). The expression and secretion of pertinent pro-inflammatory mediators were measured by qPCR, Western blot, ELISA and Bioplex. Asprosin stimulation significantly upregulated the expression and secretion of the pro-inflammatory cytokines: tumour necrosis factor α (TNFα), interleukin-1β (IL-1β), IL-8 and IL-12 in vitro. This pro-inflammatory response in THP-1 macrophages was partly attenuated by the treatments with CAPE and was significantly inhibited by TAK-242 treatment. Asprosin-induced inflammation is significantly counteracted by TLR4 inhibition in THP-1 macrophages, suggesting that asprosin exerts its pro-inflammatory effects, at least in part, via the TLR4 signalling pathway.
    Original languageEnglish
    Article number227
    Number of pages16
    JournalInternational Journal of Molecular Sciences
    Volume24
    Issue number1
    Early online date23 Dec 2022
    DOIs
    Publication statusPublished - Jan 2023

    Bibliographical note

    Copyright: © 2022 by the authors.
    Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland.
    This article is an open access article
    distributed under the terms and
    conditions of the Creative Commons
    Attribution (CC BY) license (https://
    creativecommons.org/licenses/by/
    4.0/)

    Keywords

    • Article
    • asprosin
    • adipokines
    • inflammation
    • THP-1 macrophages
    • Toll-like receptor 4
    • TLR4

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