Splenic CD169 ⁺ Tim4 ⁺ Marginal Metallophilic Macrophages Are Essential for Wound Healing After Myocardial Infarction

Fidelity of wound healing after myocardial infarction (MI) is an important determinant of subsequent adverse cardiac remodeling and failure. Macrophages derived from infiltrating Ly6C ^hi blood monocytes are a key component of this healing response; however, the importance of other macrophage populations is unclear. Here, using a variety of in vivo murine models and orthogonal approaches, including surgical myocardial infarction, splenectomy, parabiosis, cell adoptive transfer, lineage tracing and cell tracking, RNA sequencing, and functional characterization, we establish in mice an essential role for splenic CD169 ⁺ Tim4 ⁺ marginal metallophilic macrophages (MMMs) in post-MI wound healing. Splenic CD169 ⁺ Tim4 ⁺ MMMs circulate in blood as Ly6C ^low cells expressing macrophage markers and help populate CD169 ⁺ Tim4 ⁺ CCR2 ^- LYVE1 ^low macrophages in the naïve heart. After acute MI, splenic MMMs augment phagocytosis, CCR3 and CCR4 expression, and robustly mobilize to the heart, resulting in marked expansion of cardiac CD169 ⁺ Tim4 ⁺ LyVE1 ^low macrophages with an immunomodulatory and pro-resolving gene signature. These macrophages are obligatory for apoptotic neutrophil clearance, suppression of inflammation, and induction of a reparative macrophage phenotype in the infarcted heart. Splenic MMMs are both necessary and sufficient for post-MI wound healing, and limit late pathological remodeling. Liver X receptor-α agonist-induced expansion of the splenic marginal zone and MMMs during acute MI alleviates inflammation and improves short- and long-term cardiac remodeling. Finally, humans with acute ST-elevation MI also exhibit expansion of circulating CD169 ⁺ Tim4 ⁺ macrophages. We conclude that splenic CD169 ⁺ Tim4 ⁺ MMMs are required for pro-resolving and reparative responses after MI and can be manipulated for therapeutic benefit to limit long-term heart failure.

What is new?: We establish for the first time that metallophilic marginal macrophages (MMMs) from the spleen, expressing the markers CD169 and Tim4, circulate in blood and traffic to the heart to help maintain the CD169 ⁺ Tim4 ⁺ CCR2 ^- LYVE1 ^low macrophage population in the heart. After acute myocardial infarction, splenic MMMs augment cardiac trafficking in response to chemotactic signals, resulting in expansion of CD169 ⁺ Tim4 ⁺ macrophages in the heart that play an essential role in post-MI efferocytosis, wound healing and repair while limiting longer term adverse cardiac remodeling. Analogous to mice, humans also exhibit circulating CD169 ⁺ Tim4 ⁺ macrophages in the blood that expand after acute ST segment elevation MI. What are the clinical implications?: This study highlights the importance of the cardiosplenic axis in acute MI, and the splenic marginal zone, in determining the course and outcome of post-MI LV remodeling.Pharmacological expansion of splenic marginal zone macrophages alleviated post-MI adverse LV remodeling and inflammation, suggesting that splenic modulation is a potential translational therapeutic approach for limiting post-MI inflammation and improving heart repair.