Chemerin causes lipid metabolic imbalance and induces passive lipid accumulation in human hepatoma cell line via the receptor GPR1

Suppression of Fibroblast Growth Factor 23 in UMR106 Osteoblast-Like Cells and MC3T3-E1 Cells by Adipokine Chemerin

Endocrine fibroblast growth factor 23 (FGF23) derived from bone governs phosphate and vitamin D metabolism. Paracrine FGF23 has additional functions in different organs. Moreover, plasma FGF23 is correlated with outcomes in chronic kidney disease. FGF23 regulation is complex depending on a plethora of different factors and conditions including AMP-dependent kinase (AMPK), inflammation, and adipokines leptin and adiponectin. Chemerin is an adipokine implicated in proinflammatory processes in adipose tissue and other organs and an activator of AMPK. Here, we investigated whether chemerin is a regulator of FGF23. UMR106 osteoblast-like cells and MC3T3-E1 osteoblasts were studied. Gene expression was assessed by qRT-PCR, FGF23 protein by ELISA, and AMPK activity by western blotting. Both cell lines expressed Cmklr1 encoding chemerin chemokine-like receptor 1. Chemerin slightly but significantly reduced Fgf23 expression. Chemerin reduced FGF23 protein abundance in the cell culture supernatant, and RNAi-mediated Cmklr1 silencing upregulated Fgf23 expression in UMR106 cells. In the presence of AMPK inhibitor compound C, chemerin failed to suppress Fgf23 in UMR106 cells. In conclusion, chemerin-dependent Cmklr1 signaling downregulates FGF23 in bone cell lines. This effect requires, at least partly, AMPK.

The Role of Chemerin in Upper Gastrointestinal Cancer

Background/Objectives: Chemerin, which is a multifunctional cytokine and adipokine, has been implicated in inflammatory and metabolic processes and might play a role in upper gastrointestinal (GI) malignancies, particularly gastric and esophageal cancer. The aim of this review is to explore the role of chemerin in the pathophysiology of upper GI cancers, as well as its potential as a biomarker for early detection and as a therapeutic target. Methods: A comprehensive review of recent studies about chemerin's biochemical properties and interaction with its receptors, as well as its effects on inflammatory responses, immune regulation, and metabolic processes, was conducted. The clinical implications of chemerin for gastric and esophageal cancer were analyzed, whereas the potential therapeutic strategies targeting chemerin were discussed. Results: Elevated chemerin levels are associated with poor prognosis in gastric cancer and promote invasiveness and metastasis in esophageal cancer. Chemerin receptor antagonists show promising results in inhibiting cancer cell migration, invasion, and progression. Conclusions: Chemerin could represent a valuable prognostic biomarker and therapeutic target for upper GI cancers. Future observational studies should validate its clinical applications and investigate the efficacy of chemerin inhibitors as potential therapeutic targets.

Pregnancy Metabolic Adaptation and Changes in Placental Metabolism in Preeclampsia

Pregnancy is a unique physiological state in which the maternal body undergoes a series of changes in the metabolism of glucose, lipids, amino acids, and other nutrients in order to adapt to the altered state of pregnancy and provide adequate nutrients for the fetus' growth and development. The metabolism of various nutrients is regulated by one another in order to maintain homeostasis in the body. Failure to adapt to the altered physiological conditions of pregnancy can lead to a range of pregnancy issues, including fetal growth limitation and preeclampsia. A failure of metabolic adaptation during pregnancy is linked to the emergence of preeclampsia. The treatment of preeclampsia by focusing on metabolic changes may provide new therapeutic alternatives.

Chemerin in the Spotlight: Revealing Its Multifaceted Role in Acute Myocardial Infarction

Chemerin, an adipokine known for its role in adipogenesis and inflammation, has emerged as a significant biomarker in cardiovascular diseases, including acute myocardial infarction (AMI). Recent studies have highlighted chemerin's involvement in the pathophysiological processes of coronary artery disease (CAD), where it modulates inflammatory responses, endothelial function, and vascular remodelling. Elevated levels of chemerin have been associated with adverse cardiovascular outcomes, including increased myocardial injury, left ventricular dysfunction, and heightened inflammatory states post-AMI. This manuscript aims to provide a comprehensive review of the current understanding of chemerin's role in AMI, detailing its molecular mechanisms, clinical implications, and potential as a biomarker for diagnosis and prognosis. Additionally, we explore the therapeutic prospects of targeting chemerin pathways to mitigate myocardial damage and improve clinical outcomes in AMI patients. By synthesizing the latest research findings, this review seeks to elucidate the multifaceted role of chemerin in AMI and its promise as a target for innovative therapeutic strategies.

Chemerin Enhances Migration and Invasion of OC Cells via CMKLR1/RhoA/ROCK-Mediated EMT

Chemerin is a newly described adipokine with significant effects on obesity, metabolic disorders, and immune trafficking. Recently, chemerin has gained prominence for its potential roles in cancer and tumorigenesis with pro- or antitumor effects. To date, most referenced multifunctions of chemerin are attributed to the chemokine-like receptor 1 (CMKLR1), distributing broadly in many tissues. This study investigates the in vitro roles of chemerin treatment on migration and invasion of ovarian carcinoma cells (OVCAR-3 and SK-OV-3) and potential underlying mechanisms. Herein, exogenous chemerin treatment promotes growth and invasion of SK-OV-3 cells but has no significant effects on OVCAR-3 cells. SK-OV-3 cells undergo morphological elongation characterized by epithelial-to-mesenchymal transition (EMT) and Ras homologous genome members A (RhoA)/Rho protein-related curl spiral kinase-1 (ROCK1) activation. Furthermore, chemerin-enhanced invasion and EMT of SK-OV-3 cells are effectively blocked by C3 transferase (C3T) and Y27632 and RhoA and ROCK1 inhibitor, respectively. More importantly, RhoA/ROCK1-EMT-mediated SK-OV-3 cell invasion is orchestrated by CMKLR1 upregulation after chemerin treatment (50 ng/mL). The silencing of CMKLR1 significantly (P < 0.0001) reverses the chemerin-enhanced invasion, EMT, and RhoA/ROCK1 activation of SK-OV-3 cells. Our study indicates that chemerin promotes invasion of OC cells via CMKLR1-RhoA/ROCK1-mediated EMT, offering a novel potential target for metastasis of OC.

RARRES2 regulates lipid metabolic reprogramming to mediate the development of brain metastasis in triple negative breast cancer

BACKGROUND

Triple negative breast cancer (TNBC), the most aggressive subtype of breast cancer, is characterized by a high incidence of brain metastasis (BrM) and a poor prognosis. As the most lethal form of breast cancer, BrM remains a major clinical challenge due to its rising incidence and lack of effective treatment strategies. Recent evidence suggested a potential role of lipid metabolic reprogramming in breast cancer brain metastasis (BCBrM), but the underlying mechanisms are far from being fully elucidated.

METHODS

Through analysis of BCBrM transcriptome data from mice and patients, and immunohistochemical validation on patient tissues, we identified and verified the specific down-regulation of retinoic acid receptor responder 2 (RARRES2), a multifunctional adipokine and chemokine, in BrM of TNBC. We investigated the effect of aberrant RARRES2 expression of BrM in both in vitro and in vivo studies. Key signaling pathway components were evaluated using multi-omics approaches. Lipidomics were performed to elucidate the regulation of lipid metabolic reprogramming of RARRES2.

RESULTS

We found that down-regulation of RARRES2 is specifically associated with BCBrM, and that RARRES2 deficiency promoted BCBrM through lipid metabolic reprogramming. Mechanistically, reduced expression of RARRES2 in brain metastatic potential TNBC cells resulted in increased levels of glycerophospholipid and decreased levels of triacylglycerols by regulating phosphatase and tensin homologue (PTEN)-mammalian target of rapamycin (mTOR)-sterol regulatory element-binding protein 1 (SREBP1) signaling pathway to facilitate the survival of breast cancer cells in the unique brain microenvironment.

CONCLUSIONS

Our work uncovers an essential role of RARRES2 in linking lipid metabolic reprogramming and the development of BrM. RARRES2-dependent metabolic functions may serve as potential biomarkers or therapeutic targets for BCBrM.

The Role of Chemerin in Metabolic and Cardiovascular Disease: A Literature Review of Its Physiology and Pathology from a Nutritional Perspective

Chemerin is a novel adipokine that plays a major role in adipogenesis and lipid metabolism. It also induces inflammation and affects insulin signaling, steroidogenesis and thermogenesis. Consequently, it likely contributes to a variety of metabolic and cardiovascular diseases, including atherosclerosis, diabetes, hypertension and pre-eclampsia. This review describes its origin and receptors, as well as its role in various diseases, and subsequently summarizes how nutrition affects its levels. It concludes that vitamin A, fat, glucose and alcohol generally upregulate chemerin, while omega-3, salt and vitamin D suppress it. Dietary measures rather than drugs acting as chemerin receptor antagonists might become a novel tool to suppress chemerin effects, thereby potentially improving the aforementioned diseases. However, more detailed studies are required to fully understand chemerin regulation.

The role of Chemerin in human diseases

Chemerin is a protein encoded by the Rarres2 gene that acts through endocrine or paracrine regulation. Chemerin can bind to its receptor, regulate insulin sensitivity and adipocyte differentiation, and thus affect glucose and lipid metabolism. There is growing evidence that it also plays an important role in diseases such as inflammation and cancer. Chemerin has been shown to play a role in the pathogenesis of inflammatory and metabolic diseases caused by leukocyte chemoattractants in a variety of organs, but its biological function remains controversial. In conclusion, the exciting findings collected over the past few years clearly indicate that targeting Chemerin signaling as a biological target will be a major research goal in the future. This article reviews the pathophysiological roles of Chemerin in various systems and diseases,and expect to provide a rationale for its role as a clinical therapeutic target.

Hepatocyte expressed chemerin-156 does not protect from experimental non-alcoholic steatohepatitis

Non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) is a rapidly growing liver disease. The chemoattractant chemerin is abundant in hepatocytes, and hepatocyte expressed prochemerin protected from NASH. Prochemerin is inactive and different active isoforms have been described. Here, the effect of hepatocyte expressed muChem-156, a highly active murine chemerin isoform, was studied in the methionine–choline deficient dietary model of NASH. Mice overexpressing muChem-156 had higher hepatic chemerin protein. Serum chemerin levels and the capability of serum to activate the chemerin receptors was unchanged showing that the liver did not release active chemerin. Notably, activation of the chemerin receptors by hepatic vein blood did not increase in parallel to total chemerin protein in patients with liver cirrhosis. In experimental NASH, muChem-156 had no effect on liver lipids. Accordingly, overexpression of active chemerin in hepatocytes or treatment of hepatocytes with recombinant chemerin did not affect cellular triglyceride and cholesterol levels. Importantly, overexpression of muChem-156 in the murine liver did not change the hepatic expression of inflammatory and profibrotic genes. The downstream targets of chemerin such as p38 kinase were neither activated in the liver of muChem-156 producing mice nor in HepG2, Huh7 and Hepa1-6 cells overexpressing this isoform. Recombinant chemerin had no effect on global gene expression of primary human hepatocytes and hepatic stellate cells within 24 h of incubation. Phosphorylation of p38 kinase was, however, increased upon short-time incubation of HepG2 cells with chemerin. These findings show that muChem-156 overexpression in hepatocytes does not protect from liver steatosis and inflammation.

Chemerin enhances mesenchymal features of glioblastoma by establishing autocrine and paracrine networks in a CMKLR1-dependent manner

Glioblastoma multiforme (GBM) with mesenchymal features exhibits enhanced chemotherapeutic resistance and results in reduced overall survival. Recent studies have suggested that there is a positive correlation between the GBM mesenchymal status and immune cell infiltration. However, the mechanisms by which GBM acquires its mesenchymal features in a tumor immune microenvironment-dependent manner remains unknown. Here, we uncovered a chemerin-mediated autocrine and paracrine network by which the mesenchymal phenotype of GBM cells is strengthened. We identified chemerin as a prognostic secretory protein mediating the mesenchymal phenotype-promoting network between tumor-associated macrophages (TAMs) and tumor cells in GBM. Mechanistically, chemerin promoted the mesenchymal features of GBM by suppressing the ubiquitin-proteasomal degradation of CMKLR1, a chemerin receptor predominantly expressed on TAMs and partially expressed on GBM cells, thereby enhancing NF-κB pathway activation. Moreover, chemerin was found to be involved in the recruitment of TAMs in the GBM tumor microenvironment. We revealed that chemerin also enhances the mesenchymal phenotype-promoting ability of TAMs and promotes their M2 polarization via a CMKLR1/NF-κB axis, which further exacerbates the mesenchymal features of GBM. Blocking the chemerin/CMKLR1 axis with 2-(α-naphthoyl) ethyltrimethylammonium iodide disrupted the mesenchymal network and suppressed tumor growth in GBM. These results suggest the therapeutic potential of targeting the chemerin/CMKLR1 axis to block the mesenchymal network in GBM.

Circulating chemerin levels in metabolic-associated fatty liver disease: a systematic review and meta-analysis

Background and objectives

Chemerin is a brand-new adipokine that has been linked to both inflammation and metabolic dysfunction. Even though a rising number of studies have connected chemerin to metabolic-associated fatty liver disease (MAFLD), formerly referred to as non-alcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), this association has been controversial.

Methods

A comprehensive literature search was undertaken up to February 1, 2022, in the PubMed, Embase, Web of Science, CNKI, WANFANG, and CBM library databases. Circulating chemerin levels were obtained and summarized using the standardized mean difference (SMD) and 95% confidence interval (CI). Subgroup and meta-regression analyses were conducted to examine the possibility of heterogeneity.

Results

A total of 17 studies involving 2580 participants (1584 MAFLD patients and 996 controls) evaluated circulating chemerin levels in patients with MAFLD. The present study showed that higher chemerin levels were found in patients with MAFLD (SMD: 1.32; 95% CI: 0.29, 2.35) and nonalcoholic fatty liver (NAFL) (SMD: 0.75; 95% CI: 0.01, 1.50) compared to controls. However, circulating chemerin levels did not differ significantly in the following comparisons: nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) patients and controls (SMD: 0.75; 95% CI: -0.52, 2.03); NASH patients and NAFL patients (SMD: 0.16; 95% CI: -0.39, 0.70); moderate to severe steatosis and mild steatosis (SMD: 0.55; 95% CI: -0.59, 1.69); present liver fibrosis and absent liver fibrosis (SMD: 0.66; 95% CI: -0.42, 1.74); present lobular inflammation and absent lobular inflammation (SMD: 0.45; 95% CI: -0.53, 1.42); and present portal inflammation and absent portal inflammation (SMD: 1.92; 95% CI: -0.85, 4.69).

Conclusions

Chemerin levels were considerably greater in patients with MAFLD than in controls, despite the fact that they were not significantly linked to different liver tissue lesions of MAFLD. In different subtypes of MAFLD, in comparison to healthy controls, the chemerin levels of NAFL patients were higher, whereas, there was no obvious difference in chemerin levels between NASH patients and controls. It is possible that chemerin will be used as a biomarker in the future to track the development and progression of MAFLD.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12944-022-01637-7.

Dietary Selenium Alleviated Mouse Liver Oxidative Stress and NAFLD Induced by Obesity by Regulating the KEAP1/NRF2 Pathway

Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) occurs when excess fat is stored in the liver and it is strongly linked with metabolic syndrome and oxidative stress. Selenium (Se) is an essential micronutrient in animals, which has a variety of biological functions, including antioxidant and anti-inflammatory. However, the exact effect of dietary selenium on NAFLD and the underlying molecular mechanism are not yet clear. Herein, we fed a high-fat diet (HFD) to C57BL/6 mice to construct an in vivo NAFLD model, treated AML-12 cells with palmitic acid (PA) to construct an in vitro NAFLD model, and AML-12 cells were stimulated with H₂O₂ to induce hepatocyte oxidative stress and then treated with adequate selenium. We observed that adequate selenium significantly improved the hepatic injury and insulin resistance in HFD mice, and decreased the fat accumulation and the expression of lipogenic genes in PA-induced AML-12 cells. Meanwhile, selenium significantly inhibited the production of reactive oxygen species (ROS), inhibited apoptosis, and restored mitochondrial number and membrane potential in PA- induced AML-12 cells. In addition, selenium can promote selenoproteinP1 (SEPP1) synthesis to regulate the Kelch-like ECH-associated protein 1 (KEAP1)/NF-E2-related factor 2 (NRF2) pathway, so as to defend against hepatocyte oxidative stress. These findings suggest that dietary selenium supplementation can effectively resist hepatic injury and insulin resistance during NAFLD development, and regulate the KEAP1/NRF2 pathway to resist oxidative stress by promoting SEPP1 synthesis.

Inhibition of SREBP-1 Activation by a Novel Small-Molecule Inhibitor Enhances the Sensitivity of Hepatocellular Carcinoma Tissue to Radiofrequency Ablation

Radiofrequency ablation (RFA) is an important strategy for treatment of advanced hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC). However, the prognostic indicators of RFA therapy are not known, and there are few strategies for RFA sensitization. The transcription factor sterol regulatory element binding protein 1 (SREBP)-1 regulates fatty-acid synthesis but also promotes the proliferation or metastasis of HCC cells. Here, the clinical importance of SREBP-1 and potential application of knockdown of SREBP-1 expression in RFA of advanced HCC was elucidated. In patients with advanced HCC receiving RFA, a high level of endogenous SREBP-1 expression correlated to poor survival. Inhibition of SREBP-1 activation using a novel small-molecule inhibitor, SI-1, not only inhibited the aerobic glycolysis of HCC cells, it also enhanced the antitumor effects of RFA on xenograft tumors. Overall, our results: (i) revealed the correlation between SREBP-1 and HCC severity; (ii) indicated that inhibition of SREBP-1 activation could be a promising approach for treatment of advanced HCC.