Study of the effect of atorvastatin on the interaction between ICAM-1 and CD11b by live-cell single-molecule force spectroscopy

The interaction between the cell adhesion molecule CD11b and its ligand ICAM-1 plays an important role in inflammatory responses in the disease of atherosclerosis. Atorvastatin is a commonly prescribed statin drug which has been considered as one of the most potent therapeutic agents for atherosclerosis due to its lipid-lowering effect. Recently, there is a growing body of evidence that atorvastatin has anti-inflammatory effect. We have applied the advanced method of live-cell single-molecule force spectroscopy to investigate the effect of atorvastatin on adhesion force between ICAM-1 and CD11b. Our result showed that single-molecule binding force of ICAM-1 and CD11b detected by AFM in the living cells was about 40 pN, and atorvastatin did not affect this force by blocking ICAM-1 or CD11b. This was different from the ICAM-1 monoclonal antibody, which could directly reduce the binding force of ICAM-1 and CD11b. Flow cytometry results revealed that atorvastatin pretreatment decreased the ICAM-1 expression in TNF-α activated HUVECs, which may contribute to its anti-inflammatory effect. The study provides a new approach to study anti-inflammatory mechanism for clinic drugs.