Transcriptional regulation of hexokinase 2 by BRD4 drives perivascular adipose tissue meta-inflammation in cardiometabolic disease
Authors: Mengozzi A , Costantino S , Mongelli A , Duranti E , Mohammed S A , Gorica E , Telesca M , Armenia S , Cappelli F , Matter C M , Taddei S , Masi S , Ruschitzka F , Virdis A , Paneni F 
Published: May 2024

Funding Acknowledgements

Type of funding sources: Foundation. Main funding source(s): Holcim Stiftung

SwissLife Stiftung

Background/Introduction

BRD4 is an epigenetic reader that modulates inflammatory transcriptional programmes implicated in cancer. The therapeutic potential of BRD4 modulation in cardiometabolic disorders remains elusive.

Purpose

We investigate BRD4-related transcriptional programmes and therapeutic modulation in mouse and human models of cardiometabolic disease.

Methods

Small arteries (100-300 μM) from healthy subjects (n=16) and patients with obesity and hypertension (n=16) were dissected from visceral fat biopsies and mounted on a pressurised myograph to assess ex-vivo vascular function. Vasorelaxation to acetylcholine and acetylcholine+L-NAME was evaluated at baseline and after incubation with the BRD4 inhibitor RVX-208 and with selective anti-inflammatory and anti-metabolic drugs. Vasorelaxation was assessed in the presence or in the absence of perivascular adipose tissue (PVAT). An experimental mouse model of cardiometabolic disease (high-fat diet+L-NAME supplementation) was orally administered RVX-208 (150 mg/kg) or vehicle for 10 days (n=6 each group) to test in vivo effect of chronic BRD4 inhibition on endothelial and PVAT functions. Vascular and PVAT levels of cytosolic and mitochondrial ROS and nitric oxide were assessed by confocal microscopy; protein and gene expression were measured by Western blot and qPCR. Transcriptional changes upon BRD4 inhibition were investigated by a custom PCR array and confirmed by ChIP, qPCR and Western blot and further characterised by metabolomics, lipidomics and mitochondrial swelling assays.

Results

Endothelial-dependent vasorelaxation and tissue levels of TNF-α, IL-1β and IL-6 were altered in the vessel wall and PVAT from cardiometabolic patients and mice. RVX-208 substantially attenuated ex-vivo vascular dysfunction. Distinct ex-vivo modulation of well-established inflammatory pathways showed that the effect observed with BRD4 inhibition was stronger than with anti-IL-1β, anti-IL-6 receptor and anti-TNF-α. The effect was more pronounced in vessels with intact PVAT, suggesting a restoration of the PVAT anti-contractile phenotype. (Figure 1). Gene expression profiling in PVAT from cardiometabolic mice unveiled hexokinase-2 (HK2) - a glycolytic enzyme implicated in mitochondrial dysfunction and inflammation - as the top downregulated gene by RVX-208 treatment. Increased binding of BRD4 to HK2 promoter in PVAT samples from cardiometabolic mice was confirmed by ChIP assays. Metabolomics assays further validated the findings, showing a PVAT glycolytic shift in condition of disease. Finally, ex-vivo selective inhibition of HK2 restored vascular dysfunction (Figure 2).

Conclusions

Targeting the deleterious BRD4-HK2 interplay restores cardiometabolic-related vascular dysfunction reversing the PVAT meta-inflammatory shift. Epigenetic modulators of meta-inflammatory pathways might represent a promising strategy to prevent and vascular dysfunction, key signature of cardiometabolic disease.Figure 1Figure 2