Obesity modulates NK cell activity via LDL and DUSP1 signaling for populations with adverse social determinants
African American (AA) women are disproportionately affected by obesity and hyperlipidemia, particularly in the setting of adverse social determinants of health (aSDoH) that contribute to health disparities. Obesity, hyperlipidemia, and aSDoH appear to impair NK cells. As potential common underlying mechanisms are largely unknown, we sought to investigate common signaling pathways involved in NK cell dysfunction related to obesity and hyperlipidemia in AA women from underresourced neighborhoods. We determined in freshly isolated NK cells that obesity and measures of aSDoH were associated with a shift in NK cell subsets away from CD56dim/CD16+ cytotoxic NK cells. Using ex vivo data, we identified LDL as a marker related to NK cell function in an AA population from underresourced neighborhoods. Additionally, NK cells from AA women with obesity and LDL-treated NK cells displayed a loss in NK cell function. Comparative unbiased RNA-sequencing analysis revealed DUSP1 as a common factor. Subsequently, chemical inhibition of Dusp1 and Dusp1 overexpression in NK cells highlighted its significance in NK cell function and lysosome biogenesis in a mTOR/TFEB-related fashion. Our data demonstrate a pathway by which obesity and hyperlipidemia in the setting of aSDoH may relate to NK cell dysfunction, making DUSP1 an important target for further investigation of health disparities.
Authors
- Marcus R. Andrews (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-3281-1249)
- Andrew S. Baez (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-7612-5104)
- Briana S. Turner (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-8556-6414)
- Skyler A. Kuhn (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-0606-2125)
- Yvonne Baumer (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-7400-0773)
- Mehdi Pirooznia (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4210-6458)
- Christian A. Combs (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-4656-4840)
- Sahil Joshi
- Pradeep Kumar Dagur (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4491-0853)
- Daniella M. Schwartz (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-1660-8438)
- Cristhian A. Gutierrez‐Huerta (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-3389-9652)
- Muna Igboko
- Tiffany M. Powell‐Wiley (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-9488-4131)
- Komudi Singh (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6413-541X)
- Neelam Redekar (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-4819-9034)
- Christopher K. E. Bleck (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1029-3444)
- Billy S. Collins (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5271-3534)
- David Allan (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5652-6878)
- Lola R. Ortiz-Whittingham (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9085-1591)
- Laurel Mendelsohn
- Valérie Mitchell (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-9341-2535)
- Abhinav Saurabh (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-2489-0282)
- Robert Reger
- Josette A. Yeboah
- Long Chen (ORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-2979-5033)
- Elizabeth M Aquino Peterson
- Richard Childs
Institutions
- University of Pittsburgh (US)
- Microscopy Society of America (US)
- National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute (US)
- National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (US)
- Bioinformatics Institute (RU)
- National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities (US)
- Cellular Therapeutics (United Kingdom) (GB)
- Nutrition, Obésité et Risque Thrombotique (FR)
Publication Details
- Journal
- JCI Insight
- Published
- 2024-12-24
- DOI
- https://doi.org/10.1172/jci.insight.180606
- Primary Topic
- Immune Cell Function and Interaction
- Type
- article
- Field-Weighted Citation Impact
- 0.00
Funders
- National Institutes of Health
- National Heart, Lung, and Blood Institute
- National Institute on Minority Health and Health Disparities