Defective absorption of acute allergic airway inflammation is involved in the initiation and development of chronic asthma. After allergen exposure, there is a rapid recruitment of macrophages around the airways, which promote acute inflammatory responses. The Ang-(1−7)/Mas receptor axis reportedly plays protective roles in various tissue inflammation and remodeling processes in vivo. However, the exact role of Mas receptor and their underlying mechanisms during the pathology of acute allergic airway inflammation remains unclear.

We investigated the role of Mas receptor in acute allergic asthma and explored its underlying mechanisms in vitro, aiming to find critical molecules and signal pathways.

Mas receptor expression was assessed in ovalbumin (OVA)-induced acute asthmatic murine model. Then we estimated the anti-inflammatory role of Mas receptor in vivo and explored expressions of several known inflammatory cytokines as well as phosphorylation levels of MAPK pathways. Mas receptor functions and underlying mechanisms were studied further in the human bronchial epithelial cell line (16HBE).

Mas receptor expression decreased in acute allergic airway inflammation. Multiplex immunofluorescence co-localized Mas receptor and EpCAM, indicated that Mas receptor may function in the bronchial epithelium. Activating Mas receptor through AVE0991 significantly alleviated macrophage infiltration in airway inflammation, accompanied with down-regulation of CCL2 and phosphorylation levels of MAPK pathways. Further studies in 16HBE showed that AVE0991 pre-treatment inhibited LPS-induced or anisomycin-induced CCL2 increase and THP-1 macrophages migration via JNK pathways.

Our findings suggested that Mas receptor activation significantly attenuated CCL2 dependent macrophage recruitments in acute allergic airway inflammation through JNK pathways, which indicated that Mas receptor, CCL2 and phospho-JNK could be potential targets against allergic airway inflammation.