Overexpression of heparanase enhances T lymphocyte activities and intensifies the inflammatory response in a model of murine rheumatoid arthritis.
Sci Rep 2017;
7:46229. [PMID:
28401953 PMCID:
PMC5388921 DOI:
10.1038/srep46229]
[Citation(s) in RCA: 20] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.9] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/04/2016] [Accepted: 03/13/2017] [Indexed: 12/14/2022] Open
Abstract
Heparanase is an endo-glucuronidase that degrades heparan sulfate chains. The enzyme is expressed at a low level in normal organs; however, elevated expression of heparanase has been detected in several inflammatory conditions, e.g. in the synovial joints of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients. Herein, we have applied the model of collagen-induced arthritis (CIA) to transgenic mice overexpressing human heparanase (Hpa-tg) along with wildtype (WT) mice. About 50% of the induced animals developed clinical symptoms, i.e. swelling of joints, and there were no differences between the Hpa-tg and WT mice in the incidence of disease. However, Hpa-tg mice displayed an earlier response and developed more severe symptoms. Examination of cells from thymus, spleen and lymph nodes revealed increased innate and adaptive immune responses of the Hpa-tg mice, reflected by increased proportions of macrophages, antigen presenting cells and plasmacytoid dendritic cells as well as Helios-positive CD4+ and CD8+ T cells. Furthermore, splenic lymphocytes from Hpa-tg mice showed higher proliferation activity. Our results suggest that elevated expression of heparanase augmented both the innate and adaptive immune system and propagated inflammatory reactions in the murine RA model.
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