ER stress activation in the intestinal mucosa but not in mesenteric adipose tissue is associated with inflammation in Crohn's disease patients

PLoS One. 2019 Sep 26;14(9):e0223105. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0223105. eCollection 2019.

Abstract

Chronic/abnormal activation of endoplasmic reticulum (ER) stress is linked to the exacerbation of the inflammatory process and has been recently linked to Crohn's disease (CD) pathophysiology. We investigated the intestinal mucosa and the mesenteric adipose tissue (MAT) collected from CD patients with active disease (CD group) and from non-IBD patients (CTR group) to study ER stress activation and to address tissue-specific modulation in CD. The intestinal mucosa of CD patients showed an upregulation in the expression of ER stress related genes, including ATF3, DNAJC3, STC2, DDIT3, CALR, HSPA5 and HSP90B1. Results showed that EIF2AK3 gene was upregulated, along with increased protein expression of p-eIF2α and p-eIF2α/eIF2α ratio. Additionally, ERN1 gene expression was upregulated, along with an increased spliced/activated form sXBP1 protein. Despite the upregulation of ATF6 gene expression in the intestinal mucosa of CD patients, no differences were found in ATF6 protein expression. Lastly, the analysis of MAT revealed unchanged levels of ER stress markers along with no differences in the activation of UPR. However, chaperone gene expression was modulated in the MAT of CD patients. To conclude, our results address tissue-specific differences in UPR activation in CD and point the ER stress as an important pro-inflammatory mechanism in CD, specifically in the intestinal mucosa.

Publication types

  • Research Support, Non-U.S. Gov't

MeSH terms

  • Adult
  • Aged
  • Biomarkers / metabolism
  • Case-Control Studies
  • Colon / diagnostic imaging
  • Colon / immunology
  • Colon / pathology*
  • Colonoscopy
  • Crohn Disease / diagnosis
  • Crohn Disease / immunology*
  • Crohn Disease / pathology
  • Endoplasmic Reticulum Chaperone BiP
  • Endoplasmic Reticulum Stress / immunology*
  • Female
  • Humans
  • Intestinal Mucosa / diagnostic imaging
  • Intestinal Mucosa / immunology
  • Intestinal Mucosa / pathology*
  • Intra-Abdominal Fat / immunology
  • Intra-Abdominal Fat / pathology*
  • Male
  • Mesentery / immunology
  • Mesentery / pathology
  • Middle Aged
  • Molecular Chaperones / metabolism
  • Severity of Illness Index
  • Symptom Flare Up
  • Unfolded Protein Response / immunology
  • Up-Regulation
  • Young Adult

Substances

  • Biomarkers
  • Endoplasmic Reticulum Chaperone BiP
  • HSPA5 protein, human
  • Molecular Chaperones

Grants and funding

Financial support was received by: FAPESP (São Paulo Research Foundation) [Grant number 2016/01638-7 for R.F.L.]; CNPq (National Council for Scientific and Technological Development) [Grant number 401270/2016-5 for R.F.L.]. A.C. received Post-doctoral scholarship from CAPES (Coordination for the Improvement of Higher Education Personnel - Brazil) [02-P-28707/2012]. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.