Endothelium-Protective Sphingosine-1-Phosphate Provided by HDL-Associated Apolipoprotein M
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Endothelium-protective sphingosine-1-phosphate provided by HDL-associated apolipoprotein M Christina Christoffersena,1, Hideru Obinatab,1, Sunil B. Kumaraswamyc, Sylvain Galvanib, Josefin Ahnströmc, Madhumati Sevvanad, Claudia Egerer-Sieberd, Yves A. Mullerd, Timothy Hlab,2, Lars B. Nielsena,e,2, and Björn Dahlbäckc,2 aDepartment of Clinical Biochemistry, Rigshospitalet, 2100 Copenhagen, Denmark; bCenter for Vascular Biology, Department of Pathology and Laboratory Medicine, Weill Cornell Medical College, Cornell University, New York, NY 10065; cWallenberg Laboratory, Department of Laboratory Medicine, Skåne University Hospital, Lund University, SE 20502 Malmö, Sweden; dDepartment of Biology, Friedrich-Alexander-University Erlangen-Nuremberg, D-91052 Erlangen, Germany; and eDepartment of Biomedical Sciences, University of Copenhagen, 2100 Copenhagen, Denmark Edited* by John A. Glomset, University of Washington, Seattle, WA, and approved May 4, 2011 (received for review February 25, 2011) Protection of the endothelium is provided by circulating sphingo- Indeed, r-apoM expressed in Escherichia coli was found to co- sine-1-phosphate (S1P), which maintains vascular integrity. We crystallize with myristic acid (19), illustrating that apoM can bind show that HDL-associated S1P is bound specifically to both human lipid compounds with fatty acid side chains, and in vitro binding and murine apolipoprotein M (apoM). Thus, isolated human experiments demonstrated that S1P displaced the myristic acid − ApoM+ HDL contained S1P, whereas ApoM HDL did not. More- with an IC of 0.90 μM (19). We demonstrate here that apoM is −/− 50 over, HDL in Apom mice contains no S1P, whereas HDL in trans- the carrier of S1P in HDL, mediating vasoprotective actions on genic mice overexpressing human apoM has an increased S1P the endothelium. content. The 1.7-Å structure of the S1P–human apoM complex reveals that S1P interacts specifically with an amphiphilic pocket Results and Discussion + in the lipocalin fold of apoM. Human ApoM HDL induced S1P1 To study the molecular basis of apoM interaction with S1P, we receptor internalization, downstream MAPK and Akt activation, determined the crystal structure of N-terminally truncated hu- endothelial cell migration, and formation of endothelial adherens – − man apoM (residues 22 188) (r-apoM) in complex with S1P at junctions, whereas apoM HDL did not. Importantly, lack of S1P in −/− 1.7-Å resolution. S1P is bound at the center of the calyx-like the HDL fraction of Apom mice decreased basal endothelial ligand-binding pocket (Fig. 1 and Fig. S1). It participates in barrier function in lung tissue. Our results demonstrate that apoM, numerous specific interactions with apoM (Fig. 1 and Fig. S2). by delivering S1P to the S1P1 receptor on endothelial cells, is a vas- The phosphate moiety interacts directly with the side chains of culoprotective constituent of HDL. Arg98, Arg116, and Trp100 (Fig. 1 and Fig. S2). The S1P amino group is hydrogen-bonded to Glu136 and to Tyr102 and Arg143 endothelial function | crystal structure | sphingolipids | vascular via bridging water molecules. The hydroxyl group of S1P inter- permeability | atherosclerosis acts via a bridging water molecule with the hydroxyl group of Tyr147 (Fig. 1 and Fig. S2). The hydrocarbon chain of S1P points phingosine-1-phosphate (S1P), the phosphorylated metabo- toward the interior of the calyx. Hence, its interaction with apoM Slite of D-sphingosine, binds to five G protein-coupled and its location coincide with that of myristic acid in a previous – receptors (S1P1 S1P5) and regulates a plethora of biological complex (Figs. S2 and S3) (19). When all these binding inter- – actions (1 6). In particular, the prototypical S1P1 receptor is actions are considered together, the lipid-binding site of apoM is essential for vascular maturation during development and pro- highly complementary to the structure of S1P. In particular, the motes endothelial cell migration, angiogenesis, and barrier recognition of the phosphate group by several arginines hints functions (7–9). Thus, S1P is required for maintenance of the that the S1P–apoM interaction is very specific. barrier property of the lung endothelium (10). Plasma S1P, To elucidate whether apoM is the physiological carrier of MEDICAL SCIENCES which is derived from several cellular sources (11, 12), is asso- HDL-associated S1P in vivo, plasma S1P was measured in apoM- − − ciated with HDL (∼65%) and albumin (∼35%) (3, 5). HDL- knockout (Apom / ) mice and in two lines of human apoM induced vasorelaxation as well as barrier-promoting and pro- transgenic mice having either twofold (Apom-TgN) or 10-fold survival actions on the endothelium have been attributed to S1P (Apom-TgH) increased plasma apoM concentrations (17). Com- − − signaling (2, 4, 13). Hence, much of the endothelium-protective pared with WT mice, plasma S1P was reduced by 46% in Apom / actions of HDL may result from the actions of S1P on the en- mice (P = 0.0007) and was increased by 71% (P = 0.0005) and by dothelial S1P receptors. However, the molecular nature of the 267% (P = 0.0002) in the Apom-TgN and Apom-TgH mice, re- S1P binding to HDL and interaction with S1P receptors has not been characterized. Apolipoprotein M (apoM) is a lipocalin that resides mainly in Author contributions: C.C., H.O., Y.A.M., T.H., L.B.N., and B.D. designed research; C.C., H.O., S.B.K., S.G., J.A., M.S., and C.E.-S. performed research; C.C., H.O., J.A., M.S., Y.A.M., the plasma HDL fraction (14). The retained hydrophobic NH2- terminal signal peptide anchors apoM in the phospholipid layer T.H., L.B.N., and B.D. analyzed data; and C.C., H.O., Y.A.M., T.H., L.B.N., and B.D. wrote the paper. of the lipoprotein and prevents filtration of the ∼22-kDa protein The authors declare no conflict of interest. in the kidney (15). The biological functions of apoM are un- derstood only partly. Studies in apoM gene-modified mice sug- *This Direct Submission article had a prearranged editor. gest that apoM has antiatherogenic effects, possibly related in Freely available online through the PNAS open access option. part to apoM’s ability to increase cholesterol efflux from mac- Data deposition: Crystallography, atomic coordinates, and structure factors for the S1P- β apoM crystal structure have been deposited in the Protein Data Bank, www.pdb.org (PDB rophage foam cells, to increased pre -HDL formation, and to ID code 2YG2). – antioxidative effects (16 18). The recent elucidation of the 1C.C. and H.O. contributed equally to this work. crystal structure of human recombinant apoM (r-apoM) dem- 2 To whom correspondence may be addressed. E-mail: [email protected], larsbo@ onstrated a typical lipocalin fold characterized by an eight- rh.dk, or [email protected]. β stranded antiparallel -barrel enclosing an internal binding pocket This article contains supporting information online at www.pnas.org/lookup/suppl/doi:10. that probably facilitates binding of small lipophilic ligands (19). 1073/pnas.1103187108/-/DCSupplemental. www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.1103187108 PNAS | June 7, 2011 | vol. 108 | no. 23 | 9613–9618 Downloaded by guest on September 25, 2021 Fig. 1. The structure of the ApoM–S1P complex reveals the determinants of S1P-binding specificity. (A) Stereo view of the crystal structure of apoM with S1P at 1.7-Å resolution. S1P is shown as green sticks together with interacting residues. Strands B–F, the N terminus (N-t), and the C terminus (C-t) are labeled in red, and the interacting residues are labeled in black. (B) Top view of the S1P-binding site in close up. Electron density for S1P and surrounding water molecules is contoured at 1 σ and colored blue. Water molecules are shown as red spheres in both panels, and unmodeled loops toward the N terminus are shown as broken lines. spectively (Fig. 2A). The plasma concentrations of HDL cho- monoclonal antibody against human apoM (M58) was added to lesterol, HDL total phospholipids, and apoA-I were affected the plasma before gel filtration (Fig. S4 A and B). − − only marginally in Apom / and Apom-TgH mice, demonstrating Importantly, the amount of apoM in HDL is sufficient to ac- that the changes in S1P concentrations are related to apoM and commodate and account for all HDL-bound S1P. The average not to variations in the amount of circulating HDL (17). When plasma apoM concentration is similar in mice and humans, i.e., ∼ μ lipoproteins in WT mouse plasma were separated by gel filtra- 0.9 mol/L (17). Hence, the apparent molar ratio between HDL-bound S1P and plasma apoM is ∼1:3 in WT and Apom-TgN tion, the major peak of S1P coeluted with apoM in the HDL mice and ∼1:6 in Apom-TgH mice. On gel filtration of human fractions, whereas a minor S1P peak coeluted with albumin (Fig. − − plasma, the majority of S1P coeluted with HDL, indicating that 2B). Apom / mice lacked S1P in the HDL fraction, but the S1P H in humans, also, the main part of lipoprotein-bound S1P is as- peak in the albumin fractions was present (Fig. 2B). Apom-Tg sociated with HDL (Fig. S4C). When human HDL was separated − mice had increased S1P in HDL (Fig. 2B). This S1P was asso- by affinity chromatography into apoM+ HDL and apoM HDL ciated with apoM-containing HDL, as demonstrated by a parallel fractions, S1P was found exclusively in apoM+ HDL (Fig. 2C). shift in S1P- and human apoM-elution profiles when a specific These data indicate that S1P in HDL is bound to apoM in both 9614 | www.pnas.org/cgi/doi/10.1073/pnas.1103187108 Christoffersen et al. Downloaded by guest on September 25, 2021 − − Fig. 2. ApoM gene dosage determines plasma S1P in genetically modified mice.