Virobiome Derived Peptide T: Anti-Inflammatory Peptides for Treating Neuro-Aids and Neurodegenerative Diseases

Author(s):  
Michael R Ruff
Biomedicines ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 8 (9) ◽  
pp. 361
Author(s):  
Margaux Sambon ◽  
Anna Gorlova ◽  
Alice Demelenne ◽  
Judit Alhama-Riba ◽  
Bernard Coumans ◽  
...  

Thiamine precursors, the most studied being benfotiamine (BFT), have protective effects in mouse models of neurodegenerative diseases. BFT decreased oxidative stress and inflammation, two major characteristics of neurodegenerative diseases, in a neuroblastoma cell line (Neuro2a) and an immortalized brain microglial cell line (BV2). Here, we tested the potential antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects of the hitherto unexplored derivative O,S-dibenzoylthiamine (DBT) in these two cell lines. We show that DBT protects Neuro2a cells against paraquat (PQ) toxicity by counteracting oxidative stress at low concentrations and increases the synthesis of reduced glutathione and NADPH in a Nrf2-independent manner. In BV2 cells activated by lipopolysaccharides (LPS), DBT significantly decreased inflammation by suppressing translocation of NF-κB to the nucleus. Our results also demonstrate the superiority of DBT over thiamine and other thiamine precursors, including BFT, in all of the in vitro models. Finally, we show that the chronic administration of DBT arrested motor dysfunction in FUS transgenic mice, a model of amyotrophic lateral sclerosis, and it reduced depressive-like behavior in a mouse model of ultrasound-induced stress in which it normalized oxidative stress marker levels in the brain. Together, our data suggest that DBT may have therapeutic potential for brain pathology associated with oxidative stress and inflammation by novel, coenzyme-independent mechanisms.


Molecules ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 23 (12) ◽  
pp. 3305 ◽  
Author(s):  
Giuseppe Tardiolo ◽  
Placido Bramanti ◽  
Emanuela Mazzon

N-acetylcysteine (NAC), which is an acetylated cysteine compound, has aroused scientific interest for decades due to its important medical applications. It also represents a nutritional supplement in the human diet. NAC is a glutathione precursor and shows antioxidant and anti-inflammatory activities. In addition to the uses quoted in the literature, NAC may be considered helpful in therapies to counteract neurodegenerative and mental health diseases. Furthermore, this compound has been evaluated for its neuroprotective potential in the prevention of cognitive aging dementia. NAC is inexpensive, commercially available and no relevant side effects were observed after its administration. The purpose of this paper is to give an overview on the effects and applications of NAC in Parkinson’s and Alzheimer’s disorders and in neuropathic pain and stroke.


2021 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sven Fengler ◽  
Birgit Kurkowsky ◽  
Sanjeev Kumar Kaushalya ◽  
Wera Roth ◽  
Philip Denner ◽  
...  

Optimizing drug candidates for blood-brain barrier (BBB) penetration in humans remains one of the key challenges and many devastating brain diseases including neurodegenerative diseases still do not have adequate treatments. So far, it has been difficult to establish state-of-the-art human stem cell derived in vitro models that mimic physiological barrier properties including a 3D microvasculature in a format that is scalable enough to screen drugs for BBB penetration in early drug development phases. To address this challenge, we established human induced pluripotent stem cell (iPSC)-derived brain endothelial microvessels in a standardized and scalable multi-well plate format. iPSC-derived brain microvascular endothelial cells (BMECs) were supplemented with primary cell conditioned media and grew to intact microvessels in 10 days of culturing. Produced microvessels show a typical BBB phenotype including endothelial protein expression, tight-junctions and polarized localization of efflux transporter. Microvessels exhibited physiological relevant trans-endothelial electrical resistance (TEER), were leak tight for 10 kDa dextran-Alexa 647 and strongly limited the permeability of sodium fluorescein (NaF). Permeability tests with reference compounds confirmed the suitability of our model as platform to identify potential BBB penetrating anti-inflammatory drugs. In summary, the here presented brain microvessel platform recapitulates physiological properties and allows rapid screening of BBB permeable anti-inflammatory compounds that has been suggested as promising substances to cure so far untreatable neurodegenerative diseases.


Biomolecules ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (5) ◽  
pp. 703 ◽  
Author(s):  
Mercè Pallàs ◽  
Santiago Vázquez ◽  
Coral Sanfeliu ◽  
Carles Galdeano ◽  
Christian Griñán-Ferré

Neuroinflammation is a crucial process associated with the pathogenesis of neurodegenerative diseases, including Parkinson’s disease (PD). Several pieces of evidence suggest an active role of lipid mediators, especially epoxy-fatty acids (EpFAs), in the genesis and control of neuroinflammation; 14,15-epoxyeicosatrienoic acid (14,15-EET) is one of the most commonly studied EpFAs, with anti-inflammatory properties. Soluble epoxide hydrolase (sEH) is implicated in the hydrolysis of 14,15-EET to its corresponding diol, which lacks anti-inflammatory properties. Preventing EET degradation thus increases its concentration in the brain through sEH inhibition, which represents a novel pharmacological approach to foster the reduction of neuroinflammation and by end neurodegeneration. Recently, it has been shown that sEH levels increase in brains of PD patients. Moreover, the pharmacological inhibition of the hydrolase domain of the enzyme or the use of sEH knockout mice reduced the deleterious effect of 1-methyl-4-phenyl-1,2,3,6-tetrahydropyridine (MPTP) administration. This paper overviews the knowledge of sEH and EETs in PD and the importance of blocking its hydrolytic activity, degrading EETs in PD physiopathology. We focus on imperative neuroinflammation participation in the neurodegenerative process in PD and the putative therapeutic role for sEH inhibitors. In this review, we also describe highlights in the general knowledge of the role of sEH in the central nervous system (CNS) and its participation in neurodegeneration. We conclude that sEH is one of the most promising therapeutic strategies for PD and other neurodegenerative diseases with chronic inflammation process, providing new insights into the crucial role of sEH in PD pathophysiology as well as a singular opportunity for drug development.


Antioxidants ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 9 (11) ◽  
pp. 1113
Author(s):  
Pamela Maher

Alterations occur in the homeostasis of the transition metals iron (Fe2+) and copper (Cu2+) during aging and these are further amplified in neurodegenerative diseases, including Alzheimer’s disease (AD). These observations suggest that the most effective drug candidates for AD might be those that can reduce these alterations. The flavonoid fisetin has both neuroprotective and anti-inflammatory activity both in vitro and in vivo and can bind both iron and copper suggesting that its chelating activity might play a role in its beneficial effects. To test this idea, the effects of iron and copper on both the neuroprotective and anti-inflammatory activities of fisetin were examined. It is shown that while fisetin can reduce the potentiation of cell death by iron and copper in response to treatments that lower glutathione levels, it is much less effective when the metals are combined with other inducers of oxidative stress. In addition, iron but not copper reduces the anti-inflammatory effects of fisetin in a dose-dependent manner. These effects correlate with the ability of iron but not copper to block the induction of the antioxidant transcription factor, Nrf2, by fisetin. In contrast, although the flavanone sterubin also binds iron, the metal has no effect on sterubin’s ability to induce Nrf2 or protect cells from toxic or pro-inflammatory insults. Together, these results suggest that while iron and copper binding could contribute to the beneficial effects of neuroprotective compounds in the context of neurodegenerative diseases, the consequences of this binding need to be fully examined for each compound.


2020 ◽  
Vol 867 ◽  
pp. 172847 ◽  
Author(s):  
Yuqing Zhang ◽  
Shailendra Anoopkumar-Dukie ◽  
Devinder Arora ◽  
Andrew K. Davey

2015 ◽  
Vol 20 (5) ◽  
pp. 627-640 ◽  
Author(s):  
Emiliano Peña-Altamira ◽  
Federica Prati ◽  
Francesca Massenzio ◽  
Marco Virgili ◽  
Antonio Contestabile ◽  
...  

2020 ◽  
Author(s):  
Laura Casares ◽  
Juan Diego Unciti ◽  
Maria Eugenia Prados ◽  
Diego Caprioglio ◽  
Maureen Higgins ◽  
...  

ABSTRACTOxidative stress and inflammation in the brain are two key hallmarks of neurodegenerative diseases (NDs) such as Alzheimer’s, Parkinson’s, Huntington’s and multiple sclerosis. The axis NRF2-BACH1 has anti-inflammatory and anti-oxidant properties that could be exploited pharmacologically to obtain neuroprotective effects. Activation of NRF2 or inhibition of BACH1 are, individually, promising therapeutic approaches for NDs. Compounds with dual activity as NRF2 activators and BACH1 inhibitors, could therefore potentially provide a more robust antioxidant and anti-inflammatory effects, with an overall better neuroprotective outcome. The phytocannabinoid cannabidiol (CBD) inhibits BACH1 but lacks significant NRF2 activating properties. Based on this scaffold, we have developed a novel CBD derivative that is highly effective at both inhibiting BACH1 and activating NRF2. This new CBD derivative provides neuroprotection in cell models of relevance to Huntington’s disease, setting the basis for further developments in vivo.


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