Macrophage inflammation resolution requires CPEB4-directed offsetting of mRNA degradation

Abstract

Chronic inflammation is a major cause of disease. Inflammation resolution is in part directed by the differential stability of mRNAs encoding pro-inflammatory and anti-inflammatory factors. In particular, tristetraprolin (TTP)-directed mRNA deadenylation destabilizes AU-rich element (ARE)-containing mRNAs. However, this mechanism alone cannot explain the variety of mRNA expression kinetics that are required to uncouple degradation of pro-inflammatory mRNAs from the sustained expression of anti-inflammatory mRNAs. Here we show that the RNA-binding protein CPEB4 acts in an opposing manner to TTP in macrophages: it helps to stabilize anti-inflammatory transcripts harboring cytoplasmic polyadenylation elements (CPEs) and AREs in their 3′-UTRs, and it is required for the resolution of the LPS-triggered inflammatory response. Coordination of CPEB4 and TTP activities is sequentially regulated through MAPK signaling. Accordingly, CPEB4 depletion in macrophages impairs inflammation resolution in an LPS-induced sepsis model. We propose that the counterbalancing actions of CPEB4 and TTP, as well as the distribution of CPEs and AREs in their target mRNAs, define transcript-specific decay patterns required for inflammation resolution. Thus, these two opposing mechanisms provide a fine-tuning control of inflammatory transcript destabilization while maintaining the expression of the negative feedback loops required for efficient inflammation resolution; disruption of this balance can lead to disease.

Data availability

Raw data for RIP-seq and RNA-seq datasets are available in GEO (accession number GSE160191 and GSE160346, respectively). Numerical data from genome-wide experiments and motif analysis are available in supplementary tables 1-6. All blots shown and used for quantifications have been provided as source data.Scripts are available as Supplementary files 9.

The following data sets were generated

Article and author information

Author details

  1. Clara Suñer

    Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB), Barcelona, Spain
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  2. Annarita Sibilio

    Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB), Barcelona, Spain
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  3. Judit Martín

    Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB), Barcelona, Spain
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  4. Chiara Lara Castellazzi

    Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB), Barcelona, Spain
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  5. Oscar Reina

    Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB), Barcelona, Spain
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  6. Ivan Dotu

    Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  7. Adrià Caballé

    Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB), Barcelona, Spain
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  8. Elisa Rivas

    Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB), Barcelona, Spain
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  9. Vittorio Calderone

    Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB), Barcelona, Spain
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  10. Juana Díez

    Universitat Pompeu Fabra, Barcelona, Spain
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
  11. Angel R Nebreda

    Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB), Barcelona, Spain
    For correspondence
    angel.nebreda@irbbarcelona.org
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
    ORCID icon "This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0002-7631-4060
  12. Raúl Méndez

    Institute for Research in Biomedicine (IRB), Barcelona, Spain
    For correspondence
    raul.mendez@irbbarcelona.org
    Competing interests
    The authors declare that no competing interests exist.
    ORCID icon "This ORCID iD identifies the author of this article:" 0000-0002-1952-6905

Funding

Ministerio de Asuntos Económicos y Transformación Digital, Gobierno de España (BFU2017-83561-P)

  • Raúl Méndez

BBVA Foundation

  • Raúl Méndez

la Caixa" Foundation "

  • Raúl Méndez

Fundación Científica Asociación Española Contra el Cáncer

  • Raúl Méndez

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

Ethics

Animal experimentation: This study was performed in strict accordance with the recommendations of the Euopean Directive 2010/63/EU on the protection of animals used for scientific purposes. All experimental protocols were approved by the Animal Ethics Committee at the Parc Cientific de Barcelona.

Copyright

© 2022, Suñer 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.

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  1. Clara Suñer
  2. Annarita Sibilio
  3. Judit Martín
  4. Chiara Lara Castellazzi
  5. Oscar Reina
  6. Ivan Dotu
  7. Adrià Caballé
  8. Elisa Rivas
  9. Vittorio Calderone
  10. Juana Díez
  11. Angel R Nebreda
  12. Raúl Méndez
(2022)
Macrophage inflammation resolution requires CPEB4-directed offsetting of mRNA degradation
eLife 11:e75873.
https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.75873

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https://doi.org/10.7554/eLife.75873

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