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Metabolic disorders including obesity and insulin resistance have their basis in dysregulated lipid metabolism and low-grade inflammation. In a microarray search of unique lipase-related genes whose expressions are associated with obesity, we found that two secreted phospholipase A2s (sPLA2s), PLA2G5 and PLA2G2E, were robustly induced in adipocytes of obese mice. Analyses of Pla2g5−/− and Pla2g2e−/− mice revealed distinct and previously unrecognized roles of these sPLA2s in diet-induced obesity. PLA2G5 hydrolyzed phosphatidylcholine in fat-overladen low-density lipoprotein to release unsaturated fatty acids, which prevented palmitate-induced M1 macrophage polarization. As such, PLA2G5 tipped the immune balance toward an M2 state, thereby counteracting adipose tissue inflammation, insulin resistance, hyperlipidemia and obesiy. PLA2G2E altered minor lipoprotein phospholipids, phosphatidylserine and phosphatidylethanolamine, and moderately facilitated lipid accumulation in adipose tissue and liver. Collectively, the identification of “metabolic sPLA2s” adds this gene family to a growing list of lipolytic enzymes that act as metabolic coordinators.

Within the secreted phospholipase A2 (sPLA2) family, group X sPLA2 (sPLA2-X) has the highest capacity to hydrolyze cellular membranes and has long been thought to promote inflammation by releasing arachidonic acid, a precursor of pro-inflammatory eicosanoids. Unexpectedly, we found that transgenic mice globally overexpressing human sPLA2-X (PLA2G10-Tg) displayed striking immunosuppressive and lean phenotypes with lymphopenia and increased M2-like macrophages, accompanied by marked elevation of free ω3 polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) and their metabolites. Studies using Pla2g10-deficient mice revealed that endogenous sPLA2-X, which is highly expressed in the colon epithelium and spermatozoa, mobilized ω3 PUFAs or their metabolites to protect against dextran sulfate-induced colitis and to promote fertilization, respectively. In colitis, sPLA2-X deficiency increased colorectal expression of Th17 cytokines, and ω3 PUFAs attenuated their production by lamina propria cells partly through the fatty acid receptor GPR120. In comparison, cytosolic phospholipase A2 (cPLA2α) protects from colitis by mobilizing ω6 arachidonic acid metabolites, including prostaglandin E2. Thus, our results underscore a previously unrecognized role of sPLA2-X as an ω3 PUFA mobilizer in vivo, segregated mobilization of ω3 and ω6 PUFA metabolites by sPLA2-X and cPLA2α, respectively, in protection against colitis, and the novel role of a particular sPLA2-X-driven PUFA in fertilization.