Fenofibrate attenuates endothelial monocyte adhesion in chronic heart failure: an in vitro study

Background Inflammation is implicated in chronic heart failure (CHF). In this study, the potential inhibitory effect of peroxisome proliferator‐activated receptor‐α (PPARα) activator fenofibrate on monocyte adhesion in CHF patients was investigated in vitro. Materials and methods Isolated peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) were collected from 36 patients (aged 65 ± 8 years) with symptomatic CHF and from 12 healthy control subjects. The cultured human aortic endothelial cells (HAECs) were stimulated with or without 2 ng mL−1 tumour necrosis factor‐alpha (TNF‐α) and the inhibitory effects of fenofibrate at 25, 50, 100 and 200 μM on endothelial mononuclear cell adhesion were tested. Furthermore, the HAECs were stimulated with 70% sera obtained from CHF patients and control individuals, respectively, with or without pretreatments with fenofibrate. The endothelial expression of vascular cell adhesion molecule‐1 (VCAM‐1) and intercellular adhesion molecule‐1 (ICAM‐1) was then confirmed by mRNA expression and Western blot. Results We found that the increased adhesion of PBMCs to TNF‐α‐stimulated HAECs in CHF patients was reduced when the HAECs were pretreated with fenofibrate (31% inhibition, P = 0·0121). However, pretreatment of the isolated PBMCs collected from CHF patients with fenofibrate failed to suppress their adherence to TNF‐α‐stimulated HAECs. Furthermore, stimulation of cultured HAECs with CHF patient sera significantly increased VCAM‐1 and ICAM‐1 expression, which could also be inhibited by fenofibrate. Conclusions The fenofibrate directly inhibits monocyte binding by TNF‐α‐activated HAECs, probably through preventing up‐regulation of cell adhesion molecules by endothelial cells in response to inflammatory stimuli. This PPARα activator may have the potential to ameliorate vascular inflammation in patients with CHF.