Discovery of novel aporphine alkaloid derivative as potent TLR2 antagonist reversing macrophage polarization and neutrophil infiltration against acute inflammation

Toll-like receptor 2 (TLR2) mediated macrophages regulate the protective immune response to infectious microorganisms, but the aberrant activation of macrophages often leads to pathological inflammation, including tissue damage. In this study, we identified antagonists of TLR2 by screening 2100 natu...

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Main Authors: Junjie Yang, Yue Pan, Xiaoshan Zeng, Shuwen Liu, Zhipeng Chen, Kui Cheng
Format: Article
Language:English
Published: Elsevier 2023-09-01
Series:Acta Pharmaceutica Sinica B
Subjects:
Online Access:http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2211383523001971
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author Junjie Yang
Yue Pan
Xiaoshan Zeng
Shuwen Liu
Zhipeng Chen
Kui Cheng
author_facet Junjie Yang
Yue Pan
Xiaoshan Zeng
Shuwen Liu
Zhipeng Chen
Kui Cheng
author_sort Junjie Yang
collection DOAJ
description Toll-like receptor 2 (TLR2) mediated macrophages regulate the protective immune response to infectious microorganisms, but the aberrant activation of macrophages often leads to pathological inflammation, including tissue damage. In this study, we identified antagonists of TLR2 by screening 2100 natural products and subsequently identified Taspine, an aporphine alkaloid, as an excellent candidate. Furthermore, analysis of the 10 steps chemical synthesis route and structural optimization yielded the Taspine derivative SMU-Y6, which has higher activity, better solubility, and improved drug-feasible property. Mechanistic studies and seq-RNA analysis revealed that SMU-Y6 inhibited TLR2 over other TLRs, hindered the formation of TLR2/MyD88 complex, and blocked the downstream NF-κB and MAPK signaling pathway, thus suppressing the release of inflammatory cytokines. SMU-Y6 could stabilize TLR2 and bind to TLR2 protein with a Kd of 0.18 μmol/L. Additionally, SMU-Y6 could efficiently reverse the M1 phenotype macrophage polarization, reduce the production of cytokines as well as infiltration of neutrophiles and alleviate the local inflammation in mice with acute paw edema and colitis. Collectively, we reported the first aporphine alkaloid derivative that selectively inhibits TLR2 with high binding affinity and superior drug-feasible property, thus providing an urgently-needed molecular probe and potential drug candidate for inflammatory and autoimmune disease therapy.
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spelling doaj.art-69557d5705c64905918c4eeea125ce7b2023-09-08T04:33:19ZengElsevierActa Pharmaceutica Sinica B2211-38352023-09-0113937823801Discovery of novel aporphine alkaloid derivative as potent TLR2 antagonist reversing macrophage polarization and neutrophil infiltration against acute inflammationJunjie Yang0Yue Pan1Xiaoshan Zeng2Shuwen Liu3Zhipeng Chen4Kui Cheng5Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of New Drug Screening and NMPA Key Laboratory for Research and Evaluation of Drug Metabolism, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou 510515, ChinaGuangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of New Drug Screening and NMPA Key Laboratory for Research and Evaluation of Drug Metabolism, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou 510515, ChinaGuangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of New Drug Screening and NMPA Key Laboratory for Research and Evaluation of Drug Metabolism, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou 510515, ChinaGuangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of New Drug Screening and NMPA Key Laboratory for Research and Evaluation of Drug Metabolism, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou 510515, China; Corresponding authors.Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of New Drug Screening and NMPA Key Laboratory for Research and Evaluation of Drug Metabolism, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou 510515, China; Corresponding authors.Guangdong Provincial Key Laboratory of New Drug Screening and NMPA Key Laboratory for Research and Evaluation of Drug Metabolism, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou 510515, China; Department of Musculoskeletal Oncology, the Third Affiliated Hospital of Southern Medical University, Guangzhou 510642, China; Corresponding authors.Toll-like receptor 2 (TLR2) mediated macrophages regulate the protective immune response to infectious microorganisms, but the aberrant activation of macrophages often leads to pathological inflammation, including tissue damage. In this study, we identified antagonists of TLR2 by screening 2100 natural products and subsequently identified Taspine, an aporphine alkaloid, as an excellent candidate. Furthermore, analysis of the 10 steps chemical synthesis route and structural optimization yielded the Taspine derivative SMU-Y6, which has higher activity, better solubility, and improved drug-feasible property. Mechanistic studies and seq-RNA analysis revealed that SMU-Y6 inhibited TLR2 over other TLRs, hindered the formation of TLR2/MyD88 complex, and blocked the downstream NF-κB and MAPK signaling pathway, thus suppressing the release of inflammatory cytokines. SMU-Y6 could stabilize TLR2 and bind to TLR2 protein with a Kd of 0.18 μmol/L. Additionally, SMU-Y6 could efficiently reverse the M1 phenotype macrophage polarization, reduce the production of cytokines as well as infiltration of neutrophiles and alleviate the local inflammation in mice with acute paw edema and colitis. Collectively, we reported the first aporphine alkaloid derivative that selectively inhibits TLR2 with high binding affinity and superior drug-feasible property, thus providing an urgently-needed molecular probe and potential drug candidate for inflammatory and autoimmune disease therapy.http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2211383523001971Taspine derivativeTLR2 inhibitorMyD88, NF-κB signaling pathwayMacrophage polarizationAnti-acute inflammatory
spellingShingle Junjie Yang
Yue Pan
Xiaoshan Zeng
Shuwen Liu
Zhipeng Chen
Kui Cheng
Discovery of novel aporphine alkaloid derivative as potent TLR2 antagonist reversing macrophage polarization and neutrophil infiltration against acute inflammation
Acta Pharmaceutica Sinica B
Taspine derivative
TLR2 inhibitor
MyD88, NF-κB signaling pathway
Macrophage polarization
Anti-acute inflammatory
title Discovery of novel aporphine alkaloid derivative as potent TLR2 antagonist reversing macrophage polarization and neutrophil infiltration against acute inflammation
title_full Discovery of novel aporphine alkaloid derivative as potent TLR2 antagonist reversing macrophage polarization and neutrophil infiltration against acute inflammation
title_fullStr Discovery of novel aporphine alkaloid derivative as potent TLR2 antagonist reversing macrophage polarization and neutrophil infiltration against acute inflammation
title_full_unstemmed Discovery of novel aporphine alkaloid derivative as potent TLR2 antagonist reversing macrophage polarization and neutrophil infiltration against acute inflammation
title_short Discovery of novel aporphine alkaloid derivative as potent TLR2 antagonist reversing macrophage polarization and neutrophil infiltration against acute inflammation
title_sort discovery of novel aporphine alkaloid derivative as potent tlr2 antagonist reversing macrophage polarization and neutrophil infiltration against acute inflammation
topic Taspine derivative
TLR2 inhibitor
MyD88, NF-κB signaling pathway
Macrophage polarization
Anti-acute inflammatory
url http://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S2211383523001971
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