Gax suppresses chemerin/CMKLR1-induced preadipocyte biofunctions through the inhibition of Akt/mTOR and ERK signaling pathways.

Adipose tissue is closely associated with angiogenesis and vascular remodeling. Chemerin is involved in inflammatory reaction and vascular dysfunction. However, the mechanisms of chemerin participating in vascular remodeling and whether Growth arrest-specific homeobox (Gax) can effectively intervene it remain obscured. Here, 3T3-F442A preadipocytes were cultured, injected into athymic mice to model fat pads, and treated respectively with Ad-chemerin, Ad-Gax, or specific inhibitors in vitro and in vivo. MTT, flow cytometry, Western blotting, and imunohisto(cyto)-chemistry analyses showed that chemerin enhanced the expression of FABP4 and VEGF, activated Akt/mTOR and ERK pathways, increased the cell percent of S phase, decreased the percent of G0-G1 phase and apoptotic cells, and augmented neovascular density in fat pads. Inversely, Gax suppressed the expression of these adipogenic and vasifactive markers and these signaling proteins, decreased the percent of S phase cells, and increased those of G0-G1 phase and apoptotic cells, and reduced the neovascular density. Our results indicate that chemerin-CMKLR1 activates Akt/mTOR and ERK pathways and facilitates preadipocyte proliferation, adipogenesis, and angiogenesis. Contrarily, Gax weakens the effect of chemerin on preadipocyte biofunctions.