Endothelial DNA Damage Orchestrates Cardio-Kidney-Metabolic Dysfunction Through Endothelin-1 Signaling

Cardiovascular diseases increase with aging and are closely linked to metabolic dysfunction and kidney disease through the cardiovascular-kidney-metabolic axis, but the underlying molecular mechanisms remain unclear. Accumulating evidence suggests that vascular endothelial cells (ECs) are particularly vulnerable to aging stressors, such as DNA damage. We investigated whether EC DNA damage drives cardiovascular-kidney-metabolic dysfunction.

We generated mice with EC-specific DNA double-strand breaks using an endonuclease I-PpoI and subjected them to a high-fat diet (HFD). This approach allowed us to investigate the impact of EC-specific DNA damage on cardiovascular, metabolic, and renal systems. Furthermore, we analyzed the correlation between EC DNA damage markers (γH2AX [phosphorylated histone H2AX]) and clinical parameters in human kidney biopsy samples.

High-fat diet-fed endonuclease I-PpoI mice rapidly developed hypertension, dyslipidemia (low high-density lipoprotein cholesterol), hepatic steatosis, and visceral fat accumulation. Mechanistically, high-fat diet feeding compromised DNA repair capacity by suppressing ATM (ataxia-telangiectasia mutated) expression in the aorta. Consequently, DNA damage in aortic ECs triggered ET-1 (endothelin-1) secretion. This induced hepatic hypoxia and ETAR (endothelin type A receptor) activation, which promoted lipid metabolic reprogramming via ACSS2 (acetyl-CoA synthetase 2) upregulation. In addition, renal aging was accelerated. The selective ETAR antagonist atrasentan normalized blood pressure, reversed hepatic steatosis, restored high-density lipoprotein cholesterol, reduced visceral fat, and attenuated renal aging. In humans, EC DNA damage correlated negatively with estimated glomerular filtration rate and high-density lipoprotein cholesterol and positively with hepatic steatosis indices and renal cortical ETAR expression.

Endothelial DNA damage is a pivotal driver of cardiovascular-kidney-metabolic dysfunction through the ET-1-ETAR-ACSS2 signaling cascade. ETAR blockade offers a mechanism-based therapeutic strategy for age-related cardiovascular, renal, and metabolic diseases.