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Cardiovascular disease (CVD) is a leading cause of death worldwide. Approximately 60% of patients treated with low‐density lipoprotein (LDL)‐lowering drug treatments, with on‐target plasma cholesterol levels, are still suffering clinical acute ischemic events. Mechanisms, such as LDL aggregation, underlie extracellular and intracellular cholesterol accumulation in the vasculature. A peptide sequence (P3) of the low‐density lipoprotein receptor‐related protein 1 (LRP1) efficiently protects LDL from sphingomyelinase (SMase‐) and phospholipase A2 (PLA2)‐induced LDL aggregation. The aim is to design families of peptide derivatives from P3 with enhanced potency and proteolytic stability. New peptides are designed through in silico conformational sampling and ApoB‐100 molecular docking, and are tested in dual (biochemical‐cellular) screening assays. A total of 46 new peptides including linear, fragment, cyclic, and alanine scanning derivatives are generated through two consecutive optimization rounds. Structurally and functionally optimized peptides contain hotspot residues that are replaced by alanine. This strategy confers an increased capacity to form prone alpha‐helix conformations crucial for the electrostatic interaction with ApoB‐100. These new compounds are highly efficient at inhibiting LDL aggregation and human coronary vascular smooth muscle cell‐cholesteryl ester loading and should be studied in preclinical models of atherosclerosis., A.B.-A. and C.P. contributed equally to this work. The authors thank Dr. Ignasi Gich, Professor of Clinical Pharmacology and Therapeutics and Researcher of Sant Pau Biomedical Research Institute (IIB-SantPau) and CIBER Epidemiología y Salud Pública (CIBERESP), for this help in statistical analysis and graph representations. The Ministry of Science and Innovation of Spain, in the framework of the State Plan of Scientific and Technical Innovation Investigation 2013–2016, awarded funding to the project “DEVELOPMENT OF AN INNOVATIVE THERAPY FOR THE TREATMENT OF THE ATHEROSCLEROSIS THROUGH INHIBITION OF CHOLESTEROL VASCULAR ACCUMULATION” led by IPROTEOS SL with File No. RTC-2016-5078-1. Support was also received from the Fundació MARATÓ TV3 Project 201521-10 (to VLl-C), and FIS PI18/01584 (to VLl-C) from the Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII) and cofinanced with ERDFs. Support was also received from Ministerio de Economía y Competitividad to DdG-C (IJCI-2016-29393). CIBER Enfermedades Cardiovasculares (CIBERCV; CB16/1100403 (DdG-C, VLl-C) are projects run by the Instituto de Salud Carlos III (ISCIII). The authors also acknowledge the support from “Secretaria d’Universitats i Recerca del Departament d’Economia I Coneixement de la Generalitat de Catalunya” (2017SGR946 to VLl-C).

Background and aims Progranulin is a circulating protein that modulates inflammation and is found in atherosclerotic lesions. Here we determined whether inflammatory cell–derived progranulin impacts atherosclerosis development. Methods Ldlr–/– mice were transplanted with bone marrow from wild-type (WT) or Grn–/– (progranulin KO) mice (referred to as Tx-WT and Tx-KO, respectively). Results After 10 weeks of high-fat diet feeding, both groups displayed similarly elevated plasma levels of cholesterol and triglycerides. Despite abundant circulating levels of progranulin, the size of atherosclerotic lesions in Tx-KO mice was increased by 47% in aortic roots and by 62% in whole aortas. Aortic root lesions in Tx-KO mice had increased macrophage content and larger necrotic cores, consistent with more advanced lesions. Progranulin staining was markedly reduced in the lesions of Tx-KO mice, indicating little or no uptake of circulating progranulin. Mechanistically, cultured progranulin-deficient macrophages exhibited increased lysosome-mediated exophagy of aggregated low-density lipoproteins resulting in increased cholesterol uptake and foam cell formation. Conclusions We conclude that hematopoietic progranulin deficiency promotes diet-induced atherosclerosis in Ldlr–/– mice, possibly due to increased exophagy-mediated cholesterol uptake. Circulating progranulin was unable to prevent the increased lesion development, consistent with the importance of progranulin acting via cell-autonomous or local effects.

Monocyte-derived cells use an extracellular, acidic, lytic compartment (a lysosomal synapse) for initial degradation of large objects or species bound to the extracellular matrix. Akin to osteoclast degradation of bone, extracellular catabolism is used by macrophages to degrade aggregates of low density lipoprotein (LDL) similar to those encountered during atherogenesis. However, unlike osteoclast catabolism, the lysosomal synapse is a highly dynamic and intricate structure. In this study, we use high resolution three dimensional imaging to visualize compartments formed by macrophages to catabolize aggregated LDL. We show that these compartments are topologically complex, have a convoluted structure and contain sub-regions that are acidified. These sub-regions are characterized by a close apposition of the macrophage plasma membrane and aggregates of LDL that are still connected to the extracellular space. Compartment formation is dependent on local actin polymerization. However, once formed, compartments are able to maintain a pH gradient when actin is depolymerized. These observations explain how compartments are able to maintain a proton gradient while remaining outside the boundaries of the plasma membrane., Summary: Macrophages use extracellular compartments, termed lysosomal synapses, that are topologically complex, have a convoluted structure and contain sub-regions that are acidified to digest aggregated lipoproteins.

Atherosclerosis is a progressive disease characterized by modified low density lipoprotein (LDL) accumulation in the large artery walls, with subsequent phagocytosis by macrophages, transforming into foam cells, and vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs). In particular, native LDL (nLDL) can modify joining to each other giving rise to aggregated LDL (agLDL), which were reported to be internalized more avidly by VSMCs in in vitro conditions (1). Here, primarily cultured aortic valve interstitial cells (AVICs) were treated for 3 up to 21 days with 50 mg/ml blood-derived nLDL or agLDL, alone or combined with pro-calcific culture media, to ascertain whether (i) agLDL are taken up more rapidly than nLDL also by AVICs and (ii) treatment with LDL at low, normolipidemic-like concentration can influence AVIC mineralization. Ultrastructurally, LDL uptake was observed exclusively for agLDL-treated AVICs, which were characterized by a lot of endocytic vesicles and intracytoplasmic vacuoles entrapping agLDL particles. Consistently, treatment with agLDL resulted in a significant increase in intracellular amounts of both esterified cholesterol and triglycerides, as chromatographically assayed. Ultrastructural analyses also revealed pro-calcific AVIC degenerative process to occur, consisting in intracellular release of lipidic material and its layering at cell edges, there acting as major hydroxyapatite nucleator (2,3). The extent of pro-calcific effects resulted to be LDL-dependent, being mitigated in the presence of nLDL and exacerbated in the presence of agLDL. These findings were consistent with spectrophotometrical analyses showing decreased calcium amounts in AVIC cultures superstimulated with nLDL and increased mineral content in the counterpart superstimulated with agLDL. Since aortic valve stenosis is considered as a valve atherosclerotic lesion, these preliminary data suggest that avid uptake of agLDL by AVICs might strongly contribute to lipid accumulation within aortic valves, with agLDL possibly affecting subsequent valve tissue mineralization even at concentrations comprised within the normolipidemic range., Italian Journal of Anatomy and Embryology, Vol. 120, No. 1 (Supplement) 2015