IRF-1 and miRNA126 modulate VCAM-1 expression in response to a high-fat meal.

Rationale: A high-fat diet accompanied by hypertriglyceridemia increases an individual's risk for development of atherosclerosis. An early event in this process is monocyte recruitment through binding to vascular cell adhesion molecule 1 (VCAM-1) upregulated on inflamed arterial endothelium. Diets high in polyunsaturated fatty acids (PUFAs) may provide athero-protection by ameliorating this effect.

Objective: We investigated the acute regulation of VCAM-1 expression in human aortic endothelial cells (HAEC) in response to triglyceride-rich lipoproteins (TGRL) isolated from subjects after consumption of a high-fat meal.

Methods And Results: Postprandial TGRL isolated from 38 subjects were categorized as proatherogenic or antiatherogenic according to their capacity to alter the inflammatory response of HAEC. Proatherogenic TGRL increased expression of VCAM-1, intercellular adhesion molecule 1 (ICAM-1), and E-selectin by ≈20% compared with stimulation with tumor necrosis factor-α alone, whereas antiatherogenic TGRL decreased VCAM-1 expression by ≈20% while still upregulating ICAM-1. The relative atherogenicity of TGRL positively correlated with particle density of TG, apolipoprotein (Apo)CIII, ApoE, and cholesterol. Ω3-PUFA mimicked the effect of antiatherogenic TGRL by downregulating VCAM-1 expression. TGRL exerted this differential regulation of VCAM-1 by reciprocally modulating expression and activity of the transcription factor interferon regulatory factor 1 (IRF-1) and expression of microRNA 126 (miR-126). Overexpression or silencing of IRF-1 or miR-126 expression recapitulated the proatherogenic or antiatherogenic regulation of VCAM-1.

Conclusions: In response to a high-fat meal, TGRL bias the inflammatory response of endothelium via transcriptional and posttranscriptional editing of VCAM-1. Subjects with an anti-inflammatory response to a meal produced TGRL that was enriched in nonesterified fatty acids, decreased IRF-1 expression, increased miR-126 activity, and diminished monocyte arrest.