Lgr4 Governs a Pro-Inflammatory Program in Macrophages to Antagonize Post-Infarction Cardiac Repair

Macrophages are critically involved in wound healing following myocardial infarction (MI). Lgr4, a member of LGR (leucine-rich repeat-containing G protein-coupled receptor) family, is emerging as a regulator of macrophage-associated immune responses. However, the contribution of Lgr4 to macrophage phenotype and function in the context of MI remains unclear.

To determine the role of macrophage Lgr4 in MI and to dissect the underlying mechanisms.

During early inflammatory phase of MI, infarct macrophages rather than neutrophils expressed high level of Lgr4. Macrophage-specific Lgr4 knockout mice had no baseline cardiovascular defects but manifested improved heart function, modestly reduced infarct size, decreased early mortality due to cardiac rupture, and ameliorated adverse remodeling after MI. Improved outcomes in macrophage-specific Lgr4 knockout mice subjected to MI were associated with mitigated ischemic injury and optimal infarct healing, as determined by reduction of cardiac apoptosis in the peri-infarct zone, attenuation of local myocardial inflammatory response, decrease of matrix metalloproteinase expression in the infarct, enhancement of angiogenesis, myofibroblast proliferation, and collagen I deposition in reparative granulation tissue as well as formation of collagen-rich scar. More importantly, macrophage-specific Lgr4 knockout infarcts had reduced numbers of infiltrating leukocytes and inflammatory macrophages but harbored abundant reparative macrophage subsets. Lgr4-null infarct macrophages exhibited a less inflammatory transcriptional signature. These findings were further supported by transcriptomic profiling data showing repression of multiple pathways and broad-spectrum genes associated with proinflammatory responses in macrophage-specific Lgr4 knockout infarcts. Notably, we discovered that Lgr4-mediated functional phenotype programing in infarct macrophages was at least partly attributed to regulation of AP (activator protein)-1 activity. We further demonstrated that the synergistic effects of Lgr4 on AP-1 activation in inflammatory macrophages occurred via enhancing CREB (cAMP response element-binding protein)-mediated c-Fos, Fosl1, and Fosb transactivation.

Together, our data highlight the significance of Lgr4 in governing proinflammatory phenotype of infarct macrophages and postinfarction repair.