New mechanism for muscle regeneration

Muscle injury triggers inflammation in which infiltrating mononuclear phagocytes are crucial for tissue regeneration. The interaction of the CCL2/CCR2 and CX3CL1/CX3CR1 chemokine axis that guides phagocyte infiltration is incompletely understood.

Researchers show that CX3CR1 deficiency promotes muscle repair and rescues Ccl2^−/− mice from impaired muscle regeneration as a result of altered macrophage function, not infiltration.

Transcriptomic analysis of muscle mononuclear phagocytes reveals that Apolipoprotein E (ApoE) is upregulated in mice with efficient regeneration.

ApoE treatment enhances phagocytosis by mononuclear phagocytes in vitro, and restores phagocytic activity and muscle regeneration in Ccl2^−/− mice.

Because CX3CR1 deficiency may compensate for defective CCL2-dependant monocyte recruitment by modulating ApoE-dependent macrophage phagocytic activity, targeting CX3CR1 expressed by macrophages might be a powerful therapeutic approach to improve muscle regeneration.

http://www.nature.com/ncomms/2015/151203/ncomms9972/full/ncomms9972.html