The interplay between western diet and gut microbiota drives the development of non-alcoholic fatty liver disease and its progression to non-alcoholic steatohepatitis. However, the specific microbial and metabolic mediators contributing to non-alcoholic steatohepatitis remain to be identified. Here, a choline-low high-fat and high-sugar diet, representing a typical western diet, named CL-HFS, successfully induces male mouse non-alcoholic steatohepatitis with some features of the human disease, such as hepatic inflammation, steatosis, and fibrosis. Metataxonomic and metabolomic studies identify Blautia producta and 2-oleoylglycerol as clinically relevant bacterial and metabolic mediators contributing to CL-HFS-induced non-alcoholic steatohepatitis. In vivo studies validate that both Blautia producta and 2-oleoylglycerol promote liver inflammation and hepatic fibrosis in normal diet- or CL-HFS-fed mice. Cellular and molecular studies reveal that the GPR119/TAK1/NF-κB/TGF-β1 signaling pathway mediates 2-oleoylglycerol-induced macrophage priming and subsequent hepatic stellate cell activation. These findings advance our understanding of non-alcoholic steatohepatitis pathogenesis and provide targets for developing microbiome/metabolite-based therapeutic strategies against non-alcoholic steatohepatitis.

Atherosclerosis is a complicated disorder and largely attributable to dyslipidaemia and chronic inflammation. Despite therapeutic advances over past decades, atherosclerosis remains the leading cause of mortality worldwide. Due to their capability of immunomodulation and tissue regeneration, mesenchymal stem cells (MSCs) have evolved as an attractive therapeutic agent in various diseases including atherosclerosis. Accumulating evidences support the protective role of MSCs in all stages of atherosclerosis. In this mini-review, we highlight the current understanding of MSCs including their characteristics such as molecular markers, tissue distribution, migratory property, and immune-modulatory competence, etc. We also summarize MSC functions in animal models of atherosclerosis. MSC transplantation is able to modulate cytokine and chemokine secretion, reduce endothelial dysfunction, promote regulatory T cell function, decrease dyslipidemia, and stabilize vulnerable plaques during atherosclerosis development. In addition, MSCs may migrate to lesions where they develop into functional cells during atherosclerosis formation. Finally, the perspectives of MSCs in clinical atherosclerosis therapy are discussed.

Rationale: Abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) is a permanent and localized dilatation of abdominal aorta with potentially fatal consequence of aortic rupture. No effective pharmacological approach has been identified to limit AAA progression and rupture. AAA is characterized by extensive aortic wall matrix degradation that contributes to arterial wall remodeling and eventual rupture, in which smooth muscle cell (SMC) phenotypic transition and MMPs (matrix metalloproteinases), especially MMP2 (matrix metalloproteinase-2) and MMP9, play critical roles. Objective: Our previous study showed that ADAR1 (adenosine deaminases acting on RNA 1) regulates SMC phenotype, which prompted us to study if ADAR1 is involved in AAA development. Methods and Results: We used Ang II (angiotensin II) infusion ApoE ^−/− mouse model combined with ADAR1 global and SMC-specific knockout to study the role of ADAR1 in AAA formation/dissection. Aortic transplantation was conducted to determine the importance of vascular cell ADAR1 in AAA development/dissection. Primary cultured SMC were used to study how ADAR1 regulates the inflammatory SMC phenotype and MMP production/activity. Patient specimens were obtained to investigate the relevance of ADAR1 expression to human AAA disease. ADAR1 was induced in abdominal aortic SMC in both mouse and human AAA tissues. Heterozygous knockout of ADAR1 diminished the Ang II–induced AAA/dissection in ApoE ^−/− mice. Mouse aortic transplantation showed that ADAR1 in vascular cells was essential for AAA formation. SMC-specific ADAR1 knockout reduced experimental AAA formation/dissection. Mechanistically, ADAR1 interacted with HuR (human antigen R) to increase the stability of MMP2 and MMP9 mRNA, leading to increased MMP levels and activities. Conclusions: ADAR1 is novel regulator of AAA development/dissection, and thus may represent a potential new therapeutic target to hinder AAA growth and rupture.

Background: Macrophage activation plays a critical role in abdominal aortic aneurysm (AAA) development. However, molecular mechanisms controlling macrophage activation and vascular inflammation in AAA remain largely unknown. The objective of the study was to identify novel mechanisms underlying adenosine deaminase acting on RNA (ADAR1) function in macrophage activation and AAA formation. Methods: Aortic transplantation was conducted to determine the importance of nonvascular ADAR1 in AAA development/dissection. Ang II (Angiotensin II) infusion of ApoE−/− mouse model combined with macrophage-specific knockout of ADAR1 was used to study ADAR1 macrophage-specific role in AAA formation/dissection. The relevance of macrophage ADAR1 to human AAA was examined using human aneurysm specimens. Moreover, a novel humanized AAA model was established to test the role of human macrophages in aneurysm formation in human arteries. Results: Allograft transplantation of wild-type abdominal aortas to ADAR1+/− recipient mice significantly attenuated AAA formation, suggesting that nonvascular ADAR1 is essential for AAA development. ADAR1 deficiency in hematopoietic cells decreased the prevalence and severity of AAA while inhibited macrophage infiltration and aorta wall inflammation. ADAR1 deletion blocked the classic macrophage activation, diminished NF-κB (nuclear factor kappa B) signaling, and enhanced the expression of a number of anti-inflammatory microRNAs. Mechanistically, ADAR1 interacted with Drosha to promote its degradation, which attenuated Drosha-DGCR8 (DiGeorge syndrome critical region 8) interaction, and consequently inhibited pri- to pre-microRNA processing of microRNAs targeting IKKβ, resulting in an increased IKKβ (inhibitor of nuclear factor kappa-B) expression and enhanced NF-κB signaling. Significantly, ADAR1 was induced in macrophages and interacted with Drosha in human AAA lesions. Reconstitution of ADAR1-deficient, but not the wild type, human monocytes to immunodeficient mice blocked the aneurysm formation in transplanted human arteries. Conclusions: Macrophage ADAR1 promotes aneurysm formation in both mouse and human arteries through a novel mechanism, that is, Drosha protein degradation, which inhibits the processing of microRNAs targeting NF-kB signaling and thus elicits macrophage-mediated vascular inflammation in AAA.