Role of adiponectin in preventing chronic rejection and the underlying molecular immunoregulatory signaling pathway

Abstract

Chronic rejection is a major obstacle to long-term survival of organ transplants. PPAR-γ agonist rosiglitazone has been shown to reduce graft rejection but the underlying mechanisms remain unclear. Combined treatment of rosiglitazone and anti-IL-5 antibody prevented MHC class II histoincompatiblecardiac graft rejection with a reduction of cellular infiltration, vasculopathy and interstitial fibrosis in a heterotopic heart transplantation model. In particularly, rosiglitazone decreased CD8 T cells infiltration and luminal occlusion, while anti-IL-5 antibody reduced eosinophil infiltration and collagen deposition. Adiponectin gene (APN) is a PPAR-γ target gene, and the expression of APN receptor AdipoRII in grafts, dendritic cells (DCs) and T cells are increased by rosiglitazone. These findings prompted me to further examine the immunomodulatory role of APN in graft rejection. APN is an anti-inflammatory adipocytokine, and has been shown to inhibitimmunostimulatory function of monocytes and macrophages. Rosiglitazone suppresses DCs maturation, activation and proliferation;hence, it is possible that APN could protect graft rejection through immunoregulation of DCs. Here, using in vitro culture systems, I found that APN has only moderate effect on the differentiation of bone marrow derived DCs but itcould alter DC phenotypes. APN-treated DCs showed an increased expression of PD-L1, which is consistent with the increased PD-L1 expression in rosiglitazone treated cardiac allografts. APN-treated DCs led to a decreased proliferation and reduction of IL-2production of T cell. Moreover, APN-treated DCs increased the expansion of Tregs (regulatory T cells) which could be inhibited by the blockage of PD-1/PD-L1 pathway, suggesting that PD-1/PD-L1 pathway and expansion of Tregs played important roles in APN-treated DCs mediated immunomodulation. Further, I employed APN-/-mice for functional and mechanistic studies, and found that cardiac allografts were not rejected by APN-/-recipient mice even after 120 days post-transplantation. Histological analyses revealed very little eosinophils, CD4 and CD8 T cells infiltration; no collagen deposit and no vessel occlusion in the cardiac allografts. Furthermore, Th2 cytokines such as IL-4 and IL-5 were lower in cardiac allografts and in the serum of APN-/-recipient. Inhibition of AMPK signaling, a major APN mediated pathway, reduced the eosinophils infiltration in wild type recipient. In contrast, AMPK activation increased eosinophils infiltration in APN-null recipient. APN enhanced T cell proliferation. AMPK and P38MAPK inhibitors as well as anti-IL-4 antibody inhibited APN-induced T cell proliferation. P38 MAPK inhibitors reduced IL-4 production in mature DCs but enhanced IL-4 expression in immature DCs. In EL-4 T cells, APN increased nuclear expressions of GATA-3 and p-STAT6 and augmented IL-4 expression, and the phenomenon was suppressed by target specific knockdown of AdipoR I and II. In summary, current study provides new mechanistic insights of PPAR-γ activation and APN signaling in the modulation of adaptive and transplantation immunity, establishing a link between metabolism and immune regulation.