Work

Microglial NFAT5 aggravates neuroinflammation via mediating NLRP6 inflammasome in experimental ischemic stroke

Year: 2025

Type: article

Abstract: Microglial activation triggers the inflammatory cascade and exacerbates brain injury following ischemic stroke. Middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO) modeling increased the expression of nuclear factor of activated T cells 5 (NFAT5) in microglia. However, the role of microglial NFAT5 in ischemic stroke remains unclear. Here, our findings indicated that microglial NFAT5 knockdown reduced the expression of pro-inflammatory factors, microglial activation, and neutrophil infiltration, ultimately ameliorating cerebral infarction and neurological deficits in mice following MCAO. Additionally, we treated hippocampal neuronal cells (HT22) with a conditioned culture medium from a microglia cell line (BV2) to simulate microglia-induced neuronal injury in vitro . We observed that NFAT5 knockdown attenuated the expression of pro-inflammatory factors in BV2 cells and reduced apoptosis in HT22 cells. Previously, our published work reported that the NOD-like receptor pyrin domain-containing 6 (NLRP6) inflammasome contributed to inflammatory injury after MCAO. In this study, we discovered that NFAT5 promoted the transcriptional activity of the Nlrp6 promoter through its −1527 bp to −1518 bp element. Notably, our results also demonstrated that NFAT5 regulated the stability of NLRP6 mRNA via the 5′UTR of Nlrp6 . Thus, our findings reveal the pivotal role and partial mechanism of microglial NFAT5 in neuroinflammation following ischemic stroke.

Source: Genes & Diseases

DOI: 10.1016/j.gendis.2025.101614