Response to Oxidative Burst-Induced Hypoxia Is Associated With Macrophage Inflammatory Profiles as Revealed by Cellular Genome-Wide Association

Genetic influence on vascular smooth muscle cell apoptosis

Vascular smooth muscle cell (VSMC) proliferation, migration, and apoptosis play important roles in many physiological processes and pathological conditions. To identify genetic influences on VSMC behavior, we measured these traits and undertook genome-wide association studies in primary umbilical artery-derived VSMCs from >2000 individuals. Although there were no genome-wide significant associations for VSMC proliferation or migration, genetic variants at two genomic loci (7p15.3 and 7q32.3) showed highly significant associations with VSMC apoptosis (P = 1.95 × 10-13 and P = 7.47 × 10-9, respectively). The lead variant at the 7p51.3 locus was associated with increased expression of the GSDME and PALS2 genes in VSMCs. Knockdown of GSDME or PALS2 in VSMCs attenuated apoptotic cell death. A protein co-immunoprecipitation assay indicated that GSDME complexed with PALS2. PALS2 knockdown attenuated activated caspase-3 and GSDME fragmentation, whilst GSDME knockdown also reduced activated caspase-3. These findings provide new insights into the genetic regulation of VSMC apoptosis, with potential utility for therapeutic development.

Non-apoptotic regulated cell death mediates reprogramming of the tumour immune microenvironment by macrophages

Tumour immune microenvironment (TIME) plays an indispensable role in tumour progression, and tumour-associated macrophages (TAMs) are the most abundant immune cells in TIME. Non-apoptotic regulated cell death (RCD) can avoid the influence of tumour apoptosis resistance on anti-tumour immune response. Specifically, autophagy, ferroptosis, pyroptosis and necroptosis mediate the crosstalk between TAMs and tumour cells in TIME, thus reprogram TIME and affect the progress of tumour. In addition, although some achievements have been made in immune checkpoint inhibitors (ICIs), there is still defect that ICIs are only effective for some people because non-apoptotic RCD can bypass the apoptosis resistance of tumour. As a result, ICIs combined with targeting non-apoptotic RCD may be a promising solution. In this paper, the basic molecular mechanism of non-apoptotic RCD, the way in which non-apoptotic RCD mediates crosstalk between TAMs and tumour cells to reprogram TIME, and the latest research progress in targeting non-apoptotic RCD and ICIs are reviewed.