A Novel STAT3-Mediated GATA6 Pathway Contributes to tert-Butylhydroquinone- (tBHQ-)‎ Protected TNFα-Activated Vascular Cell Adhesion Molecule 1 (VCAM-1)‎ in Vascular Endothelium

Abstract EN

The activation of vascular cell adhesion molecule 1 (VCAM-1) in vascular endothelial cells has been well considered implicating in the initiation and processing of atherosclerosis.

Oxidative stress is mechanistically involved in proatherosclerotic cytokine-induced VCAM-1 activation.

tert-Butylhydroquinone (tBHQ), a synthetic phenolic antioxidant used for preventing lipid peroxidation of food, possesses strongly antioxidant capacity against oxidative stress-induced dysfunction in various pathological process.

Here, we investigated the protective role of tBHQ on tumor necrosis factor alpha- (TNFα-) induced VCAM-1 activation in both aortic endothelium of mice and cultured human vascular endothelial cells and uncovered its potential mechanisms.

Our data showed that tBHQ treatment significantly reversed TNFα-induced activation of VCAM-1 at both transcriptional and protein levels.

The mechanistic study revealed that inhibiting neither nuclear factor (erythroid-derived 2)-like 2 (Nrf2) nor autophagy blocked the beneficial role of tBHQ.

Alternatively, tBHQ intervention markedly alleviated TNFα-increased GATA-binding protein 6 (GATA6) mRNA and protein expressions and its translocation into nucleus.

Further investigation indicated that tBHQ-inhibited signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3) but not mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) pathway contributed to its protective role against VCAM-1 activation via regulating GATA6.

Collectively, our data demonstrated that tBHQ prevented TNFα-activated VCAM-1 via a novel STAT3/GATA6-involved pathway.

tBHQ could be a potential candidate for the prevention of proatherosclerotic cytokine-caused inflammatory response and further dysfunctions in vascular endothelium.