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Thornton P, Reader V, Digby Z, Smolak P, Lindsay N, Harrison D, Clarke N, Watt AP. Reversal of High Fat Diet-Induced Obesity, Systemic Inflammation, and Astrogliosis by the NLRP3 Inflammasome Inhibitors NT-0249 and NT-0796. J Pharmacol Exp Ther 2024; 388:813-826. [PMID: 38336379 DOI: 10.1124/jpet.123.002013] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 11/08/2023] [Revised: 12/14/2023] [Accepted: 01/02/2024] [Indexed: 02/12/2024] Open
Abstract
Systemic and cerebral inflammatory responses are implicated in the pathogenesis of obesity and associated metabolic impairment. While the NOD-, LRR-, and pyrin domain-containing protein 3 (NLRP3) inflammasome has been linked to obesity-associated inflammation, whether it contributes to the development or maintenance of obesity is unknown. We provide support for a direct role of saturated fatty acids, such as palmitic acid, as NLRP3 activating stimuli in obese states. To investigate whether NLRP3 activation contributes to the pathogenesis of diet-induced obesity (DIO) in mice, we tested two different clinical-stage NLRP3 inflammasome inhibitors. We demonstrate a contributory role of this key inflammasome to established obesity and associated systemic and cerebral inflammation. By comparing their effects to calorie restriction, we aimed to identify specific NLRP3-sensitive mechanisms contributing to obesity-induced inflammation (as opposed to be those regulated by weight loss per se). In addition, a direct comparison of an NLRP3 inhibitor to a glucagon like peptide-1 receptor agonist, semaglutide (Wegovy), in the DIO model allowed an appreciation of the relative efficacy of these two therapeutic strategies on obesity, its associated systemic inflammatory response, and cerebral gliosis. We show that two structurally distinct, NLRP3 inhibitors, NT-0249 and NT-0796, reverse obesity in the DIO mouse model and that brain exposure appears necessary for efficacy. In support of this, we show that DIO-driven hypothalamic glial fibrillary acidic protein expression is blocked by dosing with NT-0249/NT-0796. While matching weight loss driven by semaglutide or calorie restriction, remarkably, NLRP3 inhibition provided enhanced improvements in disease-relevant biomarkers of acute phase response, cardiovascular inflammation, and lipid metabolism. SIGNIFICANCE STATEMENT: Obesity is a global health concern that predisposes individuals to chronic disease such as diabetes and cardiovascular disease at least in part by promoting systemic inflammation. We report that in mice fed a high-fat, obesogenic diet, obesity is reversed by either of two inhibitors of the intracellular inflammatory mediator NLRP3. Furthermore, NLRP3 inhibition reduces both hypothalamic gliosis and circulating biomarkers of cardiovascular disease risk beyond what can be achieved by either the glucagon like peptide-1 agonist semaglutide or calorie restriction alone.
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Affiliation(s)
- Peter Thornton
- NodThera, Cambridge, United Kingdom (P.T., V.R., Z.D., N.L., D.H., N.C., A.P.W.) and Seattle, Washington (P.S.)
| | - Valérie Reader
- NodThera, Cambridge, United Kingdom (P.T., V.R., Z.D., N.L., D.H., N.C., A.P.W.) and Seattle, Washington (P.S.)
| | - Zsofia Digby
- NodThera, Cambridge, United Kingdom (P.T., V.R., Z.D., N.L., D.H., N.C., A.P.W.) and Seattle, Washington (P.S.)
| | - Pamela Smolak
- NodThera, Cambridge, United Kingdom (P.T., V.R., Z.D., N.L., D.H., N.C., A.P.W.) and Seattle, Washington (P.S.)
| | - Nicola Lindsay
- NodThera, Cambridge, United Kingdom (P.T., V.R., Z.D., N.L., D.H., N.C., A.P.W.) and Seattle, Washington (P.S.)
| | - David Harrison
- NodThera, Cambridge, United Kingdom (P.T., V.R., Z.D., N.L., D.H., N.C., A.P.W.) and Seattle, Washington (P.S.)
| | - Nick Clarke
- NodThera, Cambridge, United Kingdom (P.T., V.R., Z.D., N.L., D.H., N.C., A.P.W.) and Seattle, Washington (P.S.)
| | - Alan P Watt
- NodThera, Cambridge, United Kingdom (P.T., V.R., Z.D., N.L., D.H., N.C., A.P.W.) and Seattle, Washington (P.S.)
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Scahill CM, Digby Z, Sealy IM, White RJ, Wali N, Collins JE, Stemple DL, Busch-Nentwich EM. The age of heterozygous telomerase mutant parents influences the adult phenotype of their offspring irrespective of genotype in zebrafish. Wellcome Open Res 2018; 2:77. [PMID: 29568807 PMCID: PMC5840683 DOI: 10.12688/wellcomeopenres.12530.2] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.2] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Accepted: 08/30/2017] [Indexed: 12/03/2022] Open
Abstract
Background: Mutations in proteins involved in telomere maintenance lead to a range of human diseases, including dyskeratosis congenita, idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis and cancer. Telomerase functions to add telomeric repeats back onto the ends of chromosomes, however non-canonical roles of components of telomerase have recently been suggested. Methods: Here we use a zebrafish telomerase mutant which harbours a nonsense mutation in
tert to investigate the adult phenotypes of fish derived from heterozygous parents of different ages. Furthermore we use whole genome sequencing data to estimate average telomere lengths. Results: We show that homozygous offspring from older heterozygotes exhibit signs of body wasting at a younger age than those of younger parents, and that offspring of older heterozygous parents weigh less irrespective of genotype. We also demonstrate that
tert homozygous mutant fish have a male sex bias, and that clutches from older parents also have a male sex bias in the heterozygous and wild-type populations. Telomere length analysis reveals that the telomeres of younger heterozygous parents are shorter than those of older heterozygous parents. Conclusions: These data indicate that the phenotypes observed in offspring from older parents cannot be explained by telomere length. Instead we propose that Tert functions outside of telomere length maintenance in an age-dependent manner to influence the adult phenotypes of the next generation.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - Zsofia Digby
- Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, Wellcome Genome Campus, Hinxton, UK.,Department of Veterinary Medicine, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
| | - Ian M Sealy
- Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, Wellcome Genome Campus, Hinxton, UK
| | - Richard J White
- Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, Wellcome Genome Campus, Hinxton, UK
| | - Neha Wali
- Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, Wellcome Genome Campus, Hinxton, UK
| | - John E Collins
- Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, Wellcome Genome Campus, Hinxton, UK
| | - Derek L Stemple
- Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, Wellcome Genome Campus, Hinxton, UK
| | - Elisabeth M Busch-Nentwich
- Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, Wellcome Genome Campus, Hinxton, UK.,Department of Medicine, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, UK
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White RJ, Collins JE, Sealy IM, Wali N, Dooley CM, Digby Z, Stemple DL, Murphy DN, Billis K, Hourlier T, Füllgrabe A, Davis MP, Enright AJ, Busch-Nentwich EM. A high-resolution mRNA expression time course of embryonic development in zebrafish. eLife 2017; 6. [PMID: 29144233 PMCID: PMC5690287 DOI: 10.7554/elife.30860] [Citation(s) in RCA: 187] [Impact Index Per Article: 26.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Affiliation(s)] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 07/28/2017] [Accepted: 11/04/2017] [Indexed: 12/18/2022] Open
Abstract
We have produced an mRNA expression time course of zebrafish development across 18 time points from 1 cell to 5 days post-fertilisation sampling individual and pools of embryos. Using poly(A) pulldown stranded RNA-seq and a 3′ end transcript counting method we characterise temporal expression profiles of 23,642 genes. We identify temporal and functional transcript co-variance that associates 5024 unnamed genes with distinct developmental time points. Specifically, a class of over 100 previously uncharacterised zinc finger domain containing genes, located on the long arm of chromosome 4, is expressed in a sharp peak during zygotic genome activation. In addition, the data reveal new genes and transcripts, differential use of exons and previously unidentified 3′ ends across development, new primary microRNAs and temporal divergence of gene paralogues generated in the teleost genome duplication. To make this dataset a useful baseline reference, the data can be browsed and downloaded at Expression Atlas and Ensembl.
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Affiliation(s)
| | - John E Collins
- Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, Hinxton, United Kingdom
| | - Ian M Sealy
- Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, Hinxton, United Kingdom
| | - Neha Wali
- Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, Hinxton, United Kingdom
| | | | - Zsofia Digby
- Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, Hinxton, United Kingdom
| | | | - Daniel N Murphy
- European Molecular Biology Laboratory, European Bioinformatics Institute, Hinxton, United Kingdom
| | - Konstantinos Billis
- European Molecular Biology Laboratory, European Bioinformatics Institute, Hinxton, United Kingdom
| | - Thibaut Hourlier
- European Molecular Biology Laboratory, European Bioinformatics Institute, Hinxton, United Kingdom
| | - Anja Füllgrabe
- European Molecular Biology Laboratory, European Bioinformatics Institute, Hinxton, United Kingdom
| | - Matthew P Davis
- European Molecular Biology Laboratory, European Bioinformatics Institute, Hinxton, United Kingdom
| | - Anton J Enright
- European Molecular Biology Laboratory, European Bioinformatics Institute, Hinxton, United Kingdom
| | - Elisabeth M Busch-Nentwich
- Wellcome Trust Sanger Institute, Hinxton, United Kingdom.,Department of Medicine, University of Cambridge, Cambridge, United Kingdom
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Scahill CM, Digby Z, Sealy IM, White RJ, Collins JE, Busch-Nentwich EM. The age of heterozygous telomerase mutant parents influences the adult phenotype of their offspring irrespective of genotype in zebrafish. Wellcome Open Res 2017. [DOI: 10.12688/wellcomeopenres.12530.1] [Citation(s) in RCA: 1] [Impact Index Per Article: 0.1] [Reference Citation Analysis] [What about the content of this article? (0)] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Indexed: 11/20/2022] Open
Abstract
Background: Mutations in proteins involved in telomere maintenance lead to a range of human diseases, including dyskeratosis congenita, idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis and cancer. Telomerase functions to add telomeric repeats back onto the ends of chromosomes, however non-canonical roles of components of telomerase have recently been suggested.Methods: Here we use a zebrafish telomerase mutant which harbours a nonsense mutation intertto investigate the adult phenotypes of fish derived from heterozygous parents of different ages. Furthermore we use whole genome sequencing data to estimate average telomere lengths.Results: We show that homozygous offspring from older heterozygotes exhibit signs of body wasting at a younger age than those of younger parents, and that offspring of older heterozygous parents weigh less irrespective of genotype. We also demonstrate thatterthomozygous mutant fish have a male sex bias, and that clutches from older parents also have a male sex bias in the heterozygous and wild-type populations. Telomere length analysis reveals that the telomeres of younger heterozygous parents are shorter than those of older heterozygous parents.Conclusions: These data indicate that the phenotypes observed in offspring from older parents cannot be explained by telomere length. Instead we propose that Tert functions outside of telomere length maintenance in an age-dependent manner to influence the adult phenotypes of the next generation.
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