scholarly journals Hydroxycarboxylic Acid Receptor 2, a Pleiotropically Linked Receptor for the Multiple Sclerosis Drug, Monomethyl Fumarate. Possible Implications for the Inflammatory Response

2021 ◽  
Vol 12 ◽  
Author(s):  
Benedetta Parodi ◽  
Alessia Sanna ◽  
Alessia Cedola ◽  
Antonio Uccelli ◽  
Nicole Kerlero de Rosbo

Monomethyl fumarate (MMF), metabolite of dimethyl fumarate (DMF), an immunosuppressive drug approved for the treatment of multiple sclerosis (MS), is a potent agonist for hydroxycarboxylic acid receptor 2 (HCAR2), eliciting signals that dampen cell activation or lead to inflammation such as the skin flushing reaction that is one of the main side effects of the treatment, together with gastrointestinal inflammation. Our aim is to further understand the molecular basis underlying these differential effects of the drug. We have used wild-type and HCAR2 knock-out mice to investigate, in vitro and ex vivo under steady-state and pathological conditions, the HCAR2-mediated signaling pathways activated by MMF in dendritic cells (DC), which promote differentiation of T cells, and in intestinal epithelial cells (IEC) where activation of a pro-inflammatory pathway, such as the cyclooxygenase-2 pathway involved in skin flushing, could underlie gastrointestinal side effects of the drug. To understand how DMF treatment might impact on gut inflammation induced by experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE), the animal model for MS, we have used 3D X-ray phase contrast tomography and flow cytometry to monitor possible intestinal alterations at morphological and immunological levels, respectively. We show that HCAR2 is a pleiotropically linked receptor for MMF, mediating activation of different pathways leading to different outcomes in different cell types, depending on experimental in-vitro and in-vivo conditions. In the small intestine of EAE-affected mice, DMF treatment affected migration of tolerogenic DC from lamina propria to mesenteric lymph nodes, and/or reverted their profile to pro-inflammatory, probably as a result of reduced expression of aldehyde dehydrogenase and transforming growth factor beta as well as the inflammatory environment. Nevertheless, DMF treatment did not amplify the morphological alterations induced by EAE. On the basis of our further understanding of MMF signaling through HCAR2, we suggest that the pleiotropic signaling of fumarate via HCAR2 should be addressed for its pharmaceutical relevance in devising new lead compounds with reduced inflammatory side effects.

2020 ◽  
Vol 11 (11) ◽  
Author(s):  
Francesco Dituri ◽  
Rosanna Scialpi ◽  
Tannin A. Schmidt ◽  
Martina Frusciante ◽  
Serena Mancarella ◽  
...  

AbstractSorafenib and regorafenib administration is among the preferential approaches to treat hepatocellular carcinoma (HCC), but does not provide satisfactory benefits. Intensive crosstalk occurring between cancer cells and other multiple non-cancerous cell subsets present in the surrounding microenvironment is assumed to affect tumor progression. This interplay is mediated by a number of soluble and structural extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins enriching the stromal milieu. Here we assess the HCC tumor expression of the ECM protein proteoglycan 4 (PRG4) and its potential pharmacologic activity either alone, or in combination with sorafenib and regorafenib. PRG4 mRNA levels resulted strongly correlated with increased survival rate of HCC patients (p = 0.000) in a prospective study involving 78 HCC subjects. We next showed that transforming growth factor beta stimulates PRG4 expression and secretion by primary human HCC cancer-associated fibroblasts, non-invasive HCC cell lines, and ex vivo specimens. By functional tests we found that recombinant human PRG4 (rhPRG4) impairs HCC cell migration. More importantly, the treatment of HCC cells expressing CD44 (the main PRG4 receptor) with rhPRG4 dramatically enhances the growth-limiting capacity of sorafenib and regorafenib, whereas not significantly affecting cell proliferation per se. Conversely, rhPRG4 only poorly potentiates drug effectiveness on low CD44-expressing or stably CD44-silenced HCC cells. Overall, these data suggest that the physiologically-produced compound PRG4 may function as a novel tumor-suppressive agent by strengthening sorafenib and regorafenib effects in the treatment of HCC.


2022 ◽  
Author(s):  
Farida Ahangari ◽  
Christine Becker ◽  
Daniel G Foster ◽  
Maurizio Chioccioli ◽  
Meghan Nelson ◽  
...  

Idiopathic Pulmonary Fibrosis (IPF) is a chronic, progressive, and often fatal disorder. Two FDA approved anti-fibrotic drugs, nintedanib and pirfenidone, slow the rate of decline in lung function, but responses are variable and side effects are common. Using an in-silico data-driven approach, we identified a robust connection between the transcriptomic perturbations in IPF disease and those induced by saracatinib, a selective Src kinase inhibitor, originally developed for oncological indications. Based on these observations, we hypothesized that saracatinib would be effective at attenuating pulmonary fibrosis. We investigated the anti-fibrotic efficacy of saracatinib relative to nintedanib and pirfenidone in three preclinical models: (i) in vitro in normal human lung fibroblasts (NHLFs); (ii) in vivo in bleomycin and recombinant adenovirus transforming growth factor-beta (Ad-TGF-β) murine models of pulmonary fibrosis; and (iii) ex vivo in precision cut lung slices from these mouse models. In each model, the effectiveness of saracatinib in blocking fibrogenic responses was equal or superior to nintedanib and pirfenidone.


Bioimpacts ◽  
2019 ◽  
Vol 10 (1) ◽  
pp. 37-43 ◽  
Author(s):  
Roya Hesari ◽  
Mina Keshvarinia ◽  
Mahboubeh Kabiri ◽  
Iman Rad ◽  
Kazem Parivar ◽  
...  

<span style="color: #1f497d;">Introduction: Transforming growth factor-beta (TGF-β) is known as standard chondrogenic differentiation agent, even though it comes with undesirable side effects such as early hypertrophic maturation, mineralization, and secretion of inflammatory/angiogenic factors. On the other hand, platelet-rich plasma (PRP) is found to have a chondrogenic impact on mesenchymal stem cell proliferation and differentiation, with no considerable side effects. Therefore, we compared chondrogenic impact of TGF-β and PRP on adipose-derived stem cells (ADSCs), to see if PRP could be introduced as an alternative to TGF-β. <br /> <span style="color: #1f497d;">Methods: Differentiation of ADSCs was monitored using a couple of methods including glycosaminoglycan production, miRNAs expression, vascular endothelial growth factor (VEGF)/tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNFα) secretion, alkaline phosphatase (ALP) and calcium content assays.<br /> <span style="color: #1f497d;">Results: Accordingly, the treatment of differentiating cells with 5% (v/v) PRP resulted in higher glycosaminoglycan production, enhanced SOX9 transcription, and lowered TNFα and VEGF secretion compared to the control and TGF-β groups. Besides, the application of PRP to the media up-regulated miR-146a and miR-199a in early and late stages of chondrogenesis, respectively. <span style="color: #1f497d;">Conclusion: PRP induces in vitro chondrogenesis, as well as TGF-β with lesser inflammatory and hypertrophic side effects.


Cancers ◽  
2018 ◽  
Vol 10 (11) ◽  
pp. 423 ◽  
Author(s):  
Jennifer Foltz ◽  
Jena Moseman ◽  
Aarohi Thakkar ◽  
Nitin Chakravarti ◽  
Dean Lee

Transforming growth factor-beta (TGFβ) is a potent immunosuppressive cytokine that inhibits the anti-tumor responses of NK cells and T cells. However, the stimulation of natural killer (NK) cells with pro-inflammatory cytokines decreases NK cell sensitivity to TGFβ. Herein, we sought to determine if TGFβ imprinting (TGFβi) during NK cell activation and expansion would decrease NK cell sensitivity to TGFβ suppression. To this end, we demonstrate that the activation of NK cells during chronic IL-2 stimulation and TGFβi potently induces NK cell hypersecretion of interferon-gamma (IFNγ) and tumor necrosis factor-alpha (TNFα) in response to tumor targets which persists for at least one month in vitro after the removal of TGFβ. TGFβi NK cell cytokine hypersecretion is induced following both cytokine and tumor activation. Further, TGFβi NK cells have a marked suppression of SMAD3 and T-bet which is associated with altered chromatin accessibility. In contrast to their heightened cytokine secretion, TGFβi NK cells downregulate several activating receptors, granzyme and perforin, and upregulate TRAIL, leading to cell-line-specific alterations in cytotoxicity. These findings may impact our understanding of how TGFβ affects NK cell development and anti-tumor function.


2019 ◽  
Vol 21 (1) ◽  
pp. 59-68
Author(s):  
I. O. Chikileva ◽  
I. Zh. Shubina ◽  
I. V. Samoylenko ◽  
A. V. Karaulov ◽  
M. V. Kiselevsky

Inhibitory receptors CTLA-4 and PD-1 (immune checkpoints) play a key role in regulation of immune reactions. They suppress excessive immune response against pathogenic microbes and prevent autoimmune reactions. The immune checkpoints are targets of the modern effective therapy based on human and humanized monoclonal antibodies (ipilimumab and nivolumab, tremelimumab, pembrolizumab, etc). However, despite its high efficiency compared to standard chemotherapy, the therapy based on blocking immune check points is facing several problems, i.e., high therapy cost and severe negative autoimmune-related side effects. Unfortunately, this therapy helps to minority of the patients. Hence, further studies are required to improve its efficiency and safety, as well as to search for selection criteria of the patients who would benefit from the therapy. An appealing approach to reduce negative side effects from immune checkpoint inhibition is application of the blocking antibodies, aiming for ex vivo generation of patients’ activated immune cells for cancer therapy, thus avoiding systemic drug administration. Our aim was to elucidate influence of immune checkpoint blocking antibodies on the expression of CTLA-4 and PD-1 in such an in vitro model. First of all, we have determined quantities of lymphocyte receptors in peripheral blood of healthy volunteers, or cancer patients with disseminated melanoma. Moreover, we defined effect from the addition of antibodies against immune checkpoints on proportions of cells expressing CTLA-4 and PD-1 in the population of phytohemagglutininactivated lymphocytes. Our study demonstrated that, in presence of antibodies to either of the two checkpoints during in vitro cell activation, the blockade of specific target receptor is accompanied by reduced number of cells positive for another checkpoint. Hence, the antibodies directed against PD-1 or CTLA-4 seem to suppress both negative signal cascades at once, if tested under such experimental conditions. Noteworthy, the response to blocking antibodies for different immune checkpoints varied for different donors. Our data may be used for development of effective combinations of lymphocyte activators and immune check-point inhibitors, for in vitro generation of activated lymphocytes applied for adoptive cancer therapy, as well as for prediction of possible responses to antibodies against CTLA-4 or PD-1, aiming to select the best personalized cancer immunotherapy.


1977 ◽  
Vol 37 (01) ◽  
pp. 154-161 ◽  
Author(s):  
B. A Janik ◽  
S. E Papaioannou

SummaryUrokinase, streptokinase, Brinase, trypsin, and SN 687, a bacterial exoprotease, have been evaluated in an ex vivo assay system. These enzymes were injected into rabbits and the fibrinolytic activity as well as other coagulation parameters were measured by in vitro techniques. Dose-response correlations have been made using the euglobulin lysis time as a measure of fibrinolytic activity and the 50% effective dose has been determined for each enzyme. Loading doses, equal to four times the 50% effective dose, were administered to monitor potential toxicity revealing that Brinase, trypsin, and SN 687 were very toxic at this concentration.Having established the 50% effective dose for each enzyme, further testing was conducted where relevant fibrinolytic and coagulation parameters were measured for up to two days following a 50% effective dose bolus injection of each enzyme. Our results have demonstrated that urokinase and streptokinase are plasminogen activators specifically activating the rabbit fibrinolytic system while Brinase, trypsin and SN 687 increase the general proteolytic activity in vivo.The advantages of this ex vivo assay system for evaluating relative fibrinolytic potencies and side effects for plasminogen activators and fibrinolytic proteases have been discussed.


Biomolecules ◽  
2020 ◽  
Vol 10 (3) ◽  
pp. 453
Author(s):  
Susana M. Chuva de Sousa Lopes ◽  
Marta S. Alexdottir ◽  
Gudrun Valdimarsdottir

Emerging data suggest that a trophoblast stem cell (TSC) population exists in the early human placenta. However, in vitro stem cell culture models are still in development and it remains under debate how well they reflect primary trophoblast (TB) cells. The absence of robust protocols to generate TSCs from humans has resulted in limited knowledge of the molecular mechanisms that regulate human placental development and TB lineage specification when compared to other human embryonic stem cells (hESCs). As placentation in mouse and human differ considerably, it is only with the development of human-based disease models using TSCs that we will be able to understand the various diseases caused by abnormal placentation in humans, such as preeclampsia. In this review, we summarize the knowledge on normal human placental development, the placental disease preeclampsia, and current stem cell model systems used to mimic TB differentiation. A special focus is given to the transforming growth factor-beta (TGFβ) family as it has been shown that the TGFβ family has an important role in human placental development and disease.


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