Heparan sulfate-dependent RAGE oligomerization is indispensable for pathophysiological functions of RAGE

  1. Miaomiao Li
  2. Chih Yean Ong
  3. Christophe J Langouët-Astrié
  4. Lisi Tan
  5. Ashwni Verma
  6. Yimu Yang
  7. Xiaoxiao Zhang
  8. Dhaval K Shah
  9. Eric P Schmidt
  10. Ding Xu  Is a corresponding author
  1. University at Buffalo, State University of New York, United States
  2. University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, United States
  3. China Medical University, China

Abstract

RAGE, a druggable inflammatory receptor, is known to function as an oligomer but the exact oligomerization mechanism remains poorly understood. Previously we have shown that heparan sulfate (HS) plays an active role in RAGE oligomerization. To understand the physiological significance of HS-induced RAGE oligomerization in vivo, we generated RAGE knock-in mice (AgerAHA/AHA) by introducing point mutations to specifically disrupt HS-RAGE interaction. The RAGE mutant demonstrated normal ligand-binding but impaired capacity of HS-binding and oligomerization. Remarkably, AgerAHA/AHA mice phenocopied Ager-/- mice in two different pathophysiological processes, namely bone remodeling and neutrophil-mediated liver injury, which demonstrates that HS-induced RAGE oligomerization is essential for RAGE signaling. Our findings suggest that it should be possible to block RAGE signaling by inhibiting HS-RAGE interaction. To test this, we generated a monoclonal antibody that targets the HS-binding site of RAGE. This antibody blocks RAGE signaling in vitro and in vivo, recapitulating the phenotype of AgerAHA/AHA mice. By inhibiting HS-RAGE interaction genetically and pharmacologically, our work validated an alternative strategy to antagonize RAGE. Finally, we have performed RNA-seq analysis of neutrophils and lungs and found that while Ager -/- mice had a broad alteration of transcriptome in both tissues compared to wild-type mice, the changes of transcriptome in AgerAHA/AHA mice were much more restricted. This unexpected finding suggests that by preserving the expression of RAGE protein (in a dominant-negative form), AgerAHA/AHA mouse might represent a cleaner genetic model to study physiological roles of RAGE in vivo compared to Ager -/- mice.

Data availability

PMN and lung RNA-sequencing data have been deposited into the NCBI Gene Expression Omnibus database (accession number GSE174178). All data generated or analysed during this study are included in the manuscript and supporting files. Source data files have been provided for all the main Figures 1-7, Figure S1, S2, S3, S5 and S7.

The following data sets were generated

Article and author information

Author details

  1. Miaomiao Li

    Department of Oral Biology, University at Buffalo, State University of New York, Buffalo, United States
    Competing interests
    Miaomiao Li, is one of the inventors for an international patent (pending, WO 2021/087462) that covers the sequence and use of anti-RAGE mAb B2..
  2. Chih Yean Ong

    Department of Oral Biology, University at Buffalo, State University of New York, Buffalo, United States
    Competing interests
    No competing interests declared.
  3. Christophe J Langouët-Astrié

    Department of Medicine, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, United States
    Competing interests
    No competing interests declared.
  4. Lisi Tan

    Department of Periodontics, China Medical University, Shenyang, China
    Competing interests
    No competing interests declared.
  5. Ashwni Verma

    Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University at Buffalo, State University of New York, Buffalo, United States
    Competing interests
    No competing interests declared.
    ORCID icon "This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0003-3717-0233
  6. Yimu Yang

    Department of Medicine, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, United States
    Competing interests
    No competing interests declared.
  7. Xiaoxiao Zhang

    Department of Oral Biology, University at Buffalo, State University of New York, Buffalo, United States
    Competing interests
    No competing interests declared.
    ORCID icon "This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0003-1321-0798
  8. Dhaval K Shah

    Department of Pharmaceutical Sciences, University at Buffalo, State University of New York, Buffalo, United States
    Competing interests
    No competing interests declared.
  9. Eric P Schmidt

    Department of Medicine, University of Colorado Anschutz Medical Campus, Aurora, United States
    Competing interests
    No competing interests declared.
  10. Ding Xu

    Department of Oral Biology, University at Buffalo, State University of New York, Buffalo, United States
    For correspondence
    dingxu@buffalo.edu
    Competing interests
    Ding Xu, is one of the inventors for an international patent (pending, WO 2021/087462) that covers the sequence and use of anti-RAGE mAb B2.
    ORCID icon "This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0001-9380-2712

Funding

National Institute of Arthritis and Musculoskeletal and Skin Diseases (R01AR07017)

  • Ding Xu

National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (R01HL094463)

  • Ding Xu

Buffalo Accelerator Funds

  • Ding Xu

National Institute of General Medical Sciences (R01GM125095)

  • Eric P Schmidt

National Institute of General Medical Sciences (R01GM114179)

  • Dhaval K Shah

National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (R21AI138195)

  • Dhaval K Shah

National Cancer Institute (R01CA246785)

  • Dhaval K Shah

The funders had no role in study design, data collection and interpretation, or the decision to submit the work for publication.

Ethics

Animal experimentation: All animal works in this study have been approved by the institutional animal care and use committee of the University at Buffalo (protocol number: ORB14126N and ORB18018).

Copyright

© 2022, Li et al.

This article is distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License permitting unrestricted use and redistribution provided that the original author and source are credited.

Metrics

  • 889
    views
  • 157
    downloads
  • 8
    citations

Views, downloads and citations are aggregated across all versions of this paper published by eLife.

Download links

A two-part list of links to download the article, or parts of the article, in various formats.

Downloads (link to download the article as PDF)

Open citations (links to open the citations from this article in various online reference manager services)

Cite this article (links to download the citations from this article in formats compatible with various reference manager tools)

  1. Miaomiao Li
  2. Chih Yean Ong
  3. Christophe J Langouët-Astrié
  4. Lisi Tan
  5. Ashwni Verma
  6. Yimu Yang
  7. Xiaoxiao Zhang
  8. Dhaval K Shah
  9. Eric P Schmidt
  10. Ding Xu
(2022)
Heparan sulfate-dependent RAGE oligomerization is indispensable for pathophysiological functions of RAGE
eLife 11:e71403.
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.71403

Share this article

https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.71403

Further reading

    1. Cell Biology
    Tomoharu Kanie, Roy Ng ... Peter K Jackson
    Research Article

    The primary cilium is a microtubule-based organelle that cycles through assembly and disassembly. In many cell types, formation of the cilium is initiated by recruitment of ciliary vesicles to the distal appendage of the mother centriole. However, the distal appendage mechanism that directly captures ciliary vesicles is yet to be identified. In an accompanying paper, we show that the distal appendage protein, CEP89, is important for the ciliary vesicle recruitment, but not for other steps of cilium formation (Tomoharu Kanie, Love, Fisher, Gustavsson, & Jackson, 2023). The lack of a membrane binding motif in CEP89 suggests that it may indirectly recruit ciliary vesicles via another binding partner. Here, we identify Neuronal Calcium Sensor-1 (NCS1) as a stoichiometric interactor of CEP89. NCS1 localizes to the position between CEP89 and a ciliary vesicle marker, RAB34, at the distal appendage. This localization was completely abolished in CEP89 knockouts, suggesting that CEP89 recruits NCS1 to the distal appendage. Similarly to CEP89 knockouts, ciliary vesicle recruitment as well as subsequent cilium formation was perturbed in NCS1 knockout cells. The ability of NCS1 to recruit the ciliary vesicle is dependent on its myristoylation motif and NCS1 knockout cells expressing a myristoylation defective mutant failed to rescue the vesicle recruitment defect despite localizing properly to the centriole. In sum, our analysis reveals the first known mechanism for how the distal appendage recruits the ciliary vesicles.

    1. Cell Biology
    Ling Cheng, Ian Meliala ... Mikael Björklund
    Research Article

    Mitochondrial dysfunction is involved in numerous diseases and the aging process. The integrated stress response (ISR) serves as a critical adaptation mechanism to a variety of stresses, including those originating from mitochondria. By utilizing mass spectrometry-based cellular thermal shift assay (MS-CETSA), we uncovered that phosphatidylethanolamine-binding protein 1 (PEBP1), also known as Raf kinase inhibitory protein (RKIP), is thermally stabilized by stresses which induce mitochondrial ISR. Depletion of PEBP1 impaired mitochondrial ISR activation by reducing eukaryotic translation initiation factor 2α (eIF2α) phosphorylation and subsequent ISR gene expression, which was independent of PEBP1’s role in inhibiting the RAF/MEK/ERK pathway. Consistently, overexpression of PEBP1 potentiated ISR activation by heme-regulated inhibitor (HRI) kinase, the principal eIF2α kinase in the mitochondrial ISR pathway. Real-time interaction analysis using luminescence complementation in live cells revealed an interaction between PEBP1 and eIF2α, which was disrupted by eIF2α S51 phosphorylation. These findings suggest a role for PEBP1 in amplifying mitochondrial stress signals, thereby facilitating an effective cellular response to mitochondrial dysfunction. Therefore, PEBP1 may be a potential therapeutic target for diseases associated with mitochondrial dysfunction.