Phagocytosis of environmental or metabolic crystalline particles induces cytotoxicity by triggering necroptosis across a broad range of particle size and shape

In crystallopathies, crystals or crystalline particles of environmental and metabolic origin deposit within tissues, induce inflammation, injury and cell death and eventually lead to organ-failure. The NLRP3-inflammasome is involved in mediating crystalline particles-induced inflammation, but pathways leading to cell death are still unknown. Here, we have used broad range of intrinsic and extrinsic crystal- or crystalline particle-sizes and shapes, e.g. calcium phosphate, silica, titanium dioxide, cholesterol, calcium oxalate, and monosodium urate. As kidney is commonly affected by crystallopathies, we used human and murine renal tubular cells as a model system. We showed that all of the analysed crystalline particles induce caspase-independent cell death. Deficiency of MLKL, siRNA knockdown of RIPK3, or inhibitors of necroptosis signaling e.g. RIPK-1 inhibitor necrostatin-1s, RIPK3 inhibitor dabrafenib, and MLKL inhibitor necrosulfonamide, partially protected tubular cells from crystalline particles cytotoxicity. Furthermore, we identify phagocytosis of crystalline particles as an upstream event in their cytotoxicity since a phagocytosis inhibitor, cytochalasin D, prevented their cytotoxicity. Taken together, our data confirmed the involvement of necroptosis as one of the pathways leading to cell death in crystallopathies. Our data identified RIPK-1, RIPK3, and MLKL as molecular targets to limit tissue injury and organ failure in crystallopathies.