Silica nanoparticles promoted pro-inflammatory macrophage and foam cell transformation via ROS/PPARγ/NF-κB signaling

Caixia Guo, Xinying Zhao, Ru Ma, Lingnan Zhu, Yueyue Chen, Zhu Yang, Zongwei Cai, Zhiwei Sun, Yanbo Li*

*Corresponding author for this work

Research output: Contribution to journalJournal articlepeer-review

7 Citations (Scopus)

Abstract

Experimental evidence has pointed out silica nanoparticles (SiNPs) possessing a proatherogenic capability. However, the interplay between SiNPs and macrophages in the pathogenesis of atherosclerosis was poorly understood. Here, we demonstrated SiNPs could promote macrophage adhesion to endothelial cells, accompanied by elevated Vcam1 and Mcp1. Upon SiNPs stimuli, macrophages manifested enhanced phagocytic activity and a pro-inflammatory phenotype, as reflected by the transcriptional determination of M1/M2-related biomarkers. In particular, our data certified the increased macrophage M1 subset facilitated more lipid accumulation and resultant foam cell transformation in comparison to the M2 phenotype. More importantly, the mechanistic investigations revealed ROS-mediated PPARγ/NF-κB signaling was a key contributor to the above phenomena. That was, SiNPs caused ROS accumulation in macrophages, resulting in the deactivation of PPARγ, nuclear translocation of NF-κB, ultimately contributing to macrophage phenotype shift toward M1 and foam cell transformation. Collectively, we first revealed SiNPs facilitated pro-inflammatory macrophage and foam cell transformation via ROS/PPARγ/NF-κB signaling. These data would provide new insight into the atherogenic property of SiNPs in a macrophage model.

Original languageEnglish
Article number163430
JournalScience of the Total Environment
Volume881
DOIs
Publication statusPublished - 10 Jul 2023

Scopus Subject Areas

  • Environmental Engineering
  • Environmental Chemistry
  • Waste Management and Disposal
  • Pollution

User-Defined Keywords

  • Atherosclerosis
  • Foam cell
  • Inflammatory response
  • Macrophage
  • Silica nanoparticle

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