Go to JCI Insight
  • About
  • Editors
  • Consulting Editors
  • For authors
  • Publication ethics
  • Publication alerts by email
  • Advertising
  • Job board
  • Contact
  • Clinical Research and Public Health
  • Current issue
  • Past issues
  • By specialty
    • COVID-19
    • Cardiology
    • Gastroenterology
    • Immunology
    • Metabolism
    • Nephrology
    • Neuroscience
    • Oncology
    • Pulmonology
    • Vascular biology
    • All ...
  • Videos
    • Conversations with Giants in Medicine
    • Video Abstracts
  • Reviews
    • View all reviews ...
    • Pancreatic Cancer (Jul 2025)
    • Complement Biology and Therapeutics (May 2025)
    • Evolving insights into MASLD and MASH pathogenesis and treatment (Apr 2025)
    • Microbiome in Health and Disease (Feb 2025)
    • Substance Use Disorders (Oct 2024)
    • Clonal Hematopoiesis (Oct 2024)
    • Sex Differences in Medicine (Sep 2024)
    • View all review series ...
  • Viewpoint
  • Collections
    • In-Press Preview
    • Clinical Research and Public Health
    • Research Letters
    • Letters to the Editor
    • Editorials
    • Commentaries
    • Editor's notes
    • Reviews
    • Viewpoints
    • 100th anniversary
    • Top read articles

  • Current issue
  • Past issues
  • Specialties
  • Reviews
  • Review series
  • Conversations with Giants in Medicine
  • Video Abstracts
  • In-Press Preview
  • Clinical Research and Public Health
  • Research Letters
  • Letters to the Editor
  • Editorials
  • Commentaries
  • Editor's notes
  • Reviews
  • Viewpoints
  • 100th anniversary
  • Top read articles
  • About
  • Editors
  • Consulting Editors
  • For authors
  • Publication ethics
  • Publication alerts by email
  • Advertising
  • Job board
  • Contact
The immunometabolite itaconate stimulates OXGR1 to promote mucociliary clearance during the pulmonary innate immune response
Yi-Rong Zeng, … , Dan Ye, Pu Wang
Yi-Rong Zeng, … , Dan Ye, Pu Wang
Published March 15, 2023
Citation Information: J Clin Invest. 2023;133(6):e160463. https://doi.org/10.1172/JCI160463.
View: Text | PDF
Research Article Metabolism

The immunometabolite itaconate stimulates OXGR1 to promote mucociliary clearance during the pulmonary innate immune response

  • Text
  • PDF
Abstract

Pathogens and inflammatory conditions rapidly induce the expression of immune-responsive gene 1 (IRG1) in cells of myeloid lineage. IRG1 encodes an aconitate decarboxylase (ACOD1) that produces the immunomodulatory metabolite itaconate (ITA). In addition to rapid intracellular accumulation, ITA is also secreted from the cell, but whether secreted ITA functions as a signaling molecule is unclear. Here, we identified ITA as an orthosteric agonist of the GPCR OXGR1, with an EC50 of approximately 0.3 mM, which was in the same range as the physiological concentration of extracellular ITA upon macrophage activation. ITA activated OXGR1 to induce Ca2+ mobilization, ERK phosphorylation, and endocytosis of the receptor. In a mouse model of pulmonary infection with bacterial Pseudomonas aeruginosa, ITA stimulated Oxgr1-dependent mucus secretion and transport in respiratory epithelium, the primary innate defense mechanism of the airway. Our study thus identifies ITA as a bona fide ligand for OXGR1 and the ITA/OXGR1 paracrine signaling pathway during the pulmonary innate immune response.

Authors

Yi-Rong Zeng, Jun-Bin Song, Dezheng Wang, Zi-Xuan Huang, Cheng Zhang, Yi-Ping Sun, Gang Shu, Yue Xiong, Kun-Liang Guan, Dan Ye, Pu Wang

×
Problems with a PDF?

This file is in Adobe Acrobat (PDF) format. If you have not installed and configured the Adobe Acrobat Reader on your system.

Having trouble reading a PDF?

PDFs are designed to be printed out and read, but if you prefer to read them online, you may find it easier if you increase the view size to 125%.

Having trouble saving a PDF?

Many versions of the free Acrobat Reader do not allow Save. You must instead save the PDF from the JCI Online page you downloaded it from. PC users: Right-click on the Download link and choose the option that says something like "Save Link As...". Mac users should hold the mouse button down on the link to get these same options.

Having trouble printing a PDF?

  1. Try printing one page at a time or to a newer printer.
  2. Try saving the file to disk before printing rather than opening it "on the fly." This requires that you configure your browser to "Save" rather than "Launch Application" for the file type "application/pdf", and can usually be done in the "Helper Applications" options.
  3. Make sure you are using the latest version of Adobe's Acrobat Reader.

Supplemental data - Download (1.28 MB)

Advertisement

Copyright © 2025 American Society for Clinical Investigation
ISSN: 0021-9738 (print), 1558-8238 (online)

Sign up for email alerts