Increased secretion of VEGF-C from SiO2-induced pulmonary macrophages promotes lymphangiogenesis through the Src/eNOS pathway in silicosis.

Silicosis, a type of lung inflammation and fibrosis caused by long-term inhalation of SiO2 particles, lacks effective treatment currently. Based on the results of our previous animal experiments, in lungs of SiO2-induced silicosis rats, a large number of lymphatic vessels are generated in the early stage of inflammation, which is of great significance for the removal of dust and inflammatory mediators. Here, the molecular mechanism of lymphangiogenesis is further studied. Vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF-C) is a key pro-lymphangiogenic factor, and its elevated expression is closely related to lymphangiogenesis. In this investigation, we demonstrated that the protein level of VEGF-C was differentially expressed in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF) and alveolar macrophages (AM) in silicosis patients and healthy controls. We further stimulated human monocyte-macrophage line U937 with SiO2, collected the culture supernatants as conditioned medium (CM) for culturing lymphatic endothelial cells (LECs) in vitro, and observed the expression of VEGF-C in the supernatant and its effect on LEC tube formation. The results showed that both CM and single VEGF-C recombinant protein stimulation significantly enhanced LEC proliferation [(1.80 ± 0.18), (1.73 ± 0.16)], chemotaxis [chemotactic cell number (101.40 ± 13.83), (93.40 ± 9.61)], and tube formation [tube number (32.20 ± 7.26), (25.00 ± 6.25); branch number (77.20 ± 6.80), (84.60 ± 7.90)], whereas CM treated with VEGF-CmAb inhibited the proliferation (1.37 ± 0.17), chemotaxis [chemotactic cell number (57.40 ± 8.62)], and tube formation [tube number (7.40 ± 1.85); branch number (47.20 ± 13.44)] of LECs. In addition, CM and VEGF-C can promote the expression of vascular endothelial growth factor receptor 3 (VEGFR-3) and lymphatic vessel endothelial hyaluronan receptor 1 (LYVE-1) in LECs, which may further mediate lymphangiogenesis by up-regulating the Src/eNOS downstream signaling molecular pathway. This study is the first to clarify the molecular mechanism of pulmonary lymphangiogenesis in silicosis and may point in the direction of eventual treatments, surveillance, and regulation at a molecular level.