Activation of human aortic smooth-muscle cells is inhibited by PPARα but not by PPARγ activators

Abstract

Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptors (PPARs) are key players in lipid and glucose metabolism and are implicated in metabolic disorders predisposing to atherosclerosis, such as dyslipidaemia and diabetes¹. Whereas PPARγ promotes lipid storage by regulating adipocyte differentiation, PPARα stimulates the β-oxidative degradation of fatty acids. PPARα-deficient mice show a prolonged response to inflammatory stimuli, suggesting that PPARα is also a modulator of inflammation². Hypolipidaemic fibrate drugs are PPARα ligands that inhibit the progressive formation of atherosclerotic lesions, which involves chronic inflammatory processes³, even in the absence of their atherogenic lipoprotein-lowering effect⁴,⁵. Here we show that PPARα is expressed in human aortic smooth-muscle cells, which participate in plaque formation and post-angioplasty re-stenosis³. In these smooth-muscle cells, we find that PPARα ligands, and not PPARγ ligands, inhibit interleukin-1-induced production of interleukin-6 and prostaglandin and expression of cyclooxygenase-2. This inhibition of cyclooxygenase-2 induction occurs transcriptionally as a result of PPARα repression of NF-κB signalling. In hyperlipidaemic patients, fenofibrate treatment decreases the plasma concentrations of interleukin-6, fibrinogen and C-reactive protein. We conclude that activators of PPARα inhibit the inflammatory response of aortic smooth-muscle cells and decrease the concentration of plasma acute-phase proteins, indicating that PPARα in the vascular wall may influence the process of atherosclerosis and re-stenosis.