Recovering intestinal redox homeostasis to resolve systemic inflammation for preventing remote myocardial injury by oral fullerenes

Proc Natl Acad Sci U S A. 2023 Dec 26;120(52):e2311673120. doi: 10.1073/pnas.2311673120. Epub 2023 Dec 18.

Abstract

The unbalanced immune state is the dominant feature of myocardial injury. However, the complicated pathology of cardiovascular diseases and the unique structure of cardiac tissue lead to challenges for effective immunoregulation therapy. Here, we exploited oral fullerene nanoscavenger (OFNS) to maintain intestinal redox homeostasis to resolve systemic inflammation for effectively preventing distal myocardial injury through bidirectional communication along the heart-gut immune axis. Observably, OFNS regulated redox microenvironment to repair cellular injury and reduce inflammation in vitro. Subsequently, OFNS prevented myocardial injury by regulating intestinal redox homeostasis and recovering epithelium barrier integrity in vivo. Based on the profiles of transcriptomics and proteomics, we demonstrated that OFNS balanced intestinal and systemic immune homeostasis for remote cardioprotection. Of note, we applied this principle to intervene myocardial infarction in mice and mini-pigs. These findings highlight that locally addressing intestinal redox to inhibit systemic inflammation could be a potent strategy for resolving remote tissue injury.

Keywords: fullerene; myocardial injury; redox homeostasis; systemic inflammation.

MeSH terms

  • Animals
  • Fullerenes* / pharmacology
  • Homeostasis
  • Inflammation / pathology
  • Intestinal Mucosa
  • Mice
  • Myocardial Infarction* / prevention & control
  • Swine
  • Swine, Miniature

Substances

  • Fullerenes