Abstract 374: Interleukin-19: A Novel Pro-Angiogenic and Anti-Inflammatory Adipokine

Abstract

Uncontrolled inflammation leads to many of the chronic diseases associated with obesity. Due to a lack of oxygen in the tissue, expanding adipose tissue becomes hypoxic and pro-inflammatory. Adipocytes release pro-angiogenic factors in an effort to restore blood flow to the tissue. Presently, little is known about the potential for endogenously expressed anti-inflammatory cytokines to attenuate inflammation and also provide pro-angiogenic effects. IL-19 is uniquely anti-inflammatory, pro-angiogenic and is both expressed by and targets various cells types. IL-19 expression in adipocytes and stromal vascular cells is increased in visceral compared to subcutaneous fat, and is also increased in visceral fat on high fat diet (HFD) compared to normal chow diet. There is no known mechanism to explain the role of IL-19 in adipose tissue expansion, and we hypothesized that IL-19 may have pro-angiogenic and anti-inflammatory properties in expanding adipose tissue. We have identified a gene regulatory factor, Interleukin Enhancer-Binding Factor 3 (ILF3) that is induced in adipocytes and stromal vascular cells by HFD and IL-19 treatment. We found that both IL-19 and VEGF induce ILF3 expression in cultured human endothelial cells (hECs). Proliferation is significantly reduced when ILF3 is knocked down using siRNA in hECs. Furthermore, when ILF3 is knocked down and hECs are stimulated with VEGF several angiogenic cytokines are also decreased. Through immunohistochemistry we found that ILF3 translocates from the nucleus to the cytoplasm in visceral fat of C57BL/6 mice fed a HFD, and remains in the nucleus when fed a normal chow diet. In summary IL-19 may be a unique HFD responsive adipokine functioning to reduce inflammation and increase angiogenesis in expanding adipose tissue. The angiogenic function of IL-19 may work through induction of the gene regulatory factor, ILF3.