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RETRACTED ARTICLE: NOX4-dependent fatty acid oxidation promotes NLRP3 inflammasome activation in macrophages

Nature Medicine volume 22, pages 1002–1012 (2016)Cite this article

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This article was retracted on 24 November 2023

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Abstract

Altered metabolism has been implicated in the pathogenesis of inflammatory diseases. NADPH oxidase 4 (NOX4), a source of cellular superoxide anions, has multiple biological functions that may be of importance in inflammation and in the pathogenesis of human metabolic diseases, including diabetes. However, the mechanisms by which NOX4-dependent metabolic regulation affect the innate immune response remain unclear. Here we show that deficiency of NOX4 resulted in reduced expression of carnitine palmitoyltransferase 1A (CPT1A), which is a key mitochondrial enzyme in the fatty acid oxidation (FAO) pathway. The reduced FAO resulted in less activation of the nucleotide-binding domain, leucine-rich-repeat-containing receptor (NLR), pyrin-domain-containing 3 (NLRP3) inflammasome in human and mouse macrophages. In contrast, NOX4 deficiency did not inhibit the activation of the NLR family, CARD-domain-containing 4 (NLRC4), the NLRP1 or the absent in melanoma 2 (AIM2) inflammasomes. We also found that inhibition of FAO by etomoxir treatment suppressed NLRP3 inflammasome activation. Furthermore, Nox4-deficient mice showed substantial reduction in caspase-1 activation and in interleukin (IL)-1β and IL-18 production, and there was improved survival in a mouse model of NLRP3-mediated Streptococcus pneumoniae infection. The pharmacologic inhibition of NOX4 by either GKT137831, which is currently in phase 2 clinical trials, or VAS-2870 attenuated NLRP3 inflammasome activation. Our results suggest that NOX4-mediated FAO promotes NLRP3 inflammasome activation.

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Figure 1: Deficiency of NOX4 suppresses NLRP3 inflammasome activation.
Figure 2: NOX4 regulates FAO during NLRP3 inflammasome activation.
Figure 3: NOX4 regulates CPT1A in NLRP3 inflammasome activation.
Figure 4: Inhibition of FAO suppresses NLRP3 inflammasome activation.
Figure 5: GKT137831 suppresses NLRP3 inflammasome activation.
Figure 6: Inhibition of NOX4 suppresses NLRP3 inflammasome activation.

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Acknowledgements

This work was supported by the US National Institutes of Health (grant no. P01 HL108801, R01 HL079904, R01 HL055330; all to A.M.K.C.). We thank E. Finkelsztein for technical assistance.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Joan and Sanford I. Weill Department of Medicine, Weill Cornell Medical College and New York-Presbyterian Hospital, New York, New York, USA

    Jong-Seok Moon, Kiichi Nakahira, Kuei-Pin Chung, Gina M DeNicola, Michael Jakun Koo, Maria A Pabón, Kristen T Rooney, Stefan W Ryter, Heather Stout-Delgado & Augustine M K Choi

  2. Division of Pulmonary and Critical Care Medicine, Weill Cornell Medical College, New York, New York, USA

    Jong-Seok Moon, Kiichi Nakahira, Kuei-Pin Chung, Michael Jakun Koo, Kristen T Rooney, Stefan W Ryter, Heather Stout-Delgado & Augustine M K Choi

  3. Department of Laboratory Medicine, National Taiwan University Hospital and National Taiwan University Cancer Center, Taipei, Taiwan, China

    Kuei-Pin Chung

  4. Research Center for Natural Human Defense System, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, Republic of Korea

    Joo-Heon Yoon

  5. Department of Otorhinolaryngology, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, South Korea

    Joo-Heon Yoon

  6. The Airway Mucus Institute, Yonsei University College of Medicine, Seoul, South Korea

    Joo-Heon Yoon

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Contributions

J.-S.M., K.N. and A.M.K.C. conceived the study with assistance from S.W.R.; J.-S.M., K.-P.C., G.M.D., M.J.K., M.A.P. and K.T.R. contributed the in vitro experiments; J.-S.M. and H.S.-D. contributed the in vivo experiments; J.-S.M. contributed all in vitro and in vivo experiments; K.-P.C. contributed the experiments for ASC oligomerization and ASC speck formation; M.A.P. contributed the experiments for human subjects; G.M.D. contributed the experiments for the FAO assay; M.J.K. and K.T.R. contributed the experiments for cytokine analysis; J.-S.M., J.-H.Y., K.N., S.W.R. and A.M.K.C. wrote the paper; and A.M.K.C. supervised the entire project.

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Correspondence to Augustine M K Choi.

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Moon, JS., Nakahira, K., Chung, KP. et al. RETRACTED ARTICLE: NOX4-dependent fatty acid oxidation promotes NLRP3 inflammasome activation in macrophages. Nat Med 22, 1002–1012 (2016). https://doi.org/10.1038/nm.4153

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