Peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor alpha is an essential factor in enhanced macrophage immune function induced by angiotensin-converting enzyme

Increased expression of angiotensin-converting enzyme (ACE) by myeloid lineage cells strongly increases the immune activity of these cells, as observed in ACE10/10 mice, which exhibit a marked increase in antitumor and antibactericidal immunity. We report that peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor alpha (PPARα), a transcription factor that regulates genes critical for lipid metabolism, is a key molecule in the enhanced macrophage function induced by ACE. Here, we used a Cre-LoxP approach with LysM-Cre to create a modified ACE10/10 mouse line in which macrophages continue to generate abundant ACE but in which monocyte and macrophage PPARα expression is selectively suppressed. These mice, termed A10-PPARα-Cre, have significantly increased growth of B16-F10 tumors compared with ACE10/10 mice with Cre expression. PPARα depletion impaired cytokine production and antigen-presenting activity in ACE-expressing macrophages, resulting in reduced tumor antigen-specific CD8⁺ T-cell generation. Additionally, the elevated bactericidal resistance typical of ACE10/10 mice was significantly reduced in A10-PPARα-Cre mice, such that these mice resembled WT mice in their resistance to methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infection. THP-1 cells expressing increased ACE (termed THP-1-ACE) constitute a human macrophage model with increased PPARα that shows enhanced cytotoxicity against tumor cells and better phagocytosis and killing of MRSA. RNA silencing of PPARα in THP-1-ACE cells reduced both tumor cell death and bacterial phagocytosis and clearance. In contrast, the in vivo administration of pemafibrate, a specific agonist of PPARα, to WT and A10-PPARα-Cre mice reduced B16-F10 tumor growth by 24.5% and 25.8%, respectively, but pemafibrate reduced tumors by 57.8% in ACE10/10 mice. With pemafibrate, the number of antitumor CD8⁺ T cells was significantly lower in A10-PPARα-Cre mice than in ACE10/10 mice. We conclude that PPARα is important in the immune system of myeloid cells, including wild-type cells, and that its increased expression by ACE-expressing macrophages in ACE10/10 mice is indispensable for ACE-dependent functional upregulation of macrophages in both mice and human cells.