Proteomic Analysis of Signaling Pathways Modulated by FABP5 in Macrophages

While acute inflammation serves essential functions in maintaining tissue homeostasis, chronic inflammation is causally linked to many diseases. Macrophages are a major cell-type that orchestrates inflammatory processes. During inflammation, macrophages undergo polarization and activation, thereby mobilizing pro-inflammatory and anti-inflammatory transcriptional programs that regulate ensuing macrophage functions. Fatty acid binding protein 5 (FABP5) is a lipid chaperone highly expressed in macrophages. FABP5 deletion is implicated in driving macrophages towards an anti-inflammatory phenotype, yet signaling pathways regulated by macrophage-FABP5 have not been systematically profiled. We leveraged proteomic and phosphoproteomic approaches to characterize pathways modulated by FABP5 in M1 and M2 polarized bone marrow derived macrophages (BMDMs). Stable isotope labeling by amino acids (SILAC) based analysis of M1 and M2 polarized wild-type (WT) and FABP5 knockout (KO) BMDMs revealed numerous differentially regulated proteins and phosphoproteins. FABP5 deletion impacted downstream pathways associated with inflammation, cytokine production, oxidative stress, and kinase activity. Toll-like receptor 2 (TLR2) emerged as a novel target of FABP5 and pharmacological FABP5 inhibition blunted TLR2-mediated activation of downstream pathways, ascribing a novel role for FABP5 in TLR2 signaling. This study represents a comprehensive characterization of the impact of FABP5 deletion upon the proteomic and phosphoproteomic landscape of M1 and M2 polarized BMDMs. Loss of FABP5 altered pathways implicated in inflammatory responses, macrophage function, and TLR2 signaling. This work provides a foundation for future studies seeking to investigate the therapeutic potential of FABP5 inhibition in pathophysiological states resulting from dysregulated inflammatory signaling. Significance Statement This work employed quantitative proteomic and phosphoproteomic approaches to characterize the proteomic profiles of bone marrow derived macrophages obtained from wild-type and fatty acid binding protein 5 (FABP5) knockout mice. Our findings revealed multiple differentially regulated pathways in M1 and M2 polarized FABP5 knockout macrophages compared to wild-type controls, notably those related to inflammation. These results expand our understanding of FABP5 function in macrophages and support recent studies highlighting the therapeutic potential of targeting macrophage FABP5 to treat inflammatory diseases.