Neorogioltriol and related diterpenes from the red alga Laurencia inhibit inflammatory bowel disease in mice by suppressing M1 and promoting M2-like macrophage responses

Macrophages are central mediators of inflammation, orchestrating the inflammatory response through the production of cytokines and nitric oxide. Macrophages obtain pro-inflammatory (M1) and anti-inflammatory (M2) phenotypes, which can be modulated by soluble factors, including natural products. Despite the crucial protective role of inflammation, chronic or deregulated inflammation can lead to pathological states, such as autoimmune diseases, metabolic disorders, cardiovascular diseases, and cancer. In this case, we studied the anti-inflammatory activity of neorogioltriol (1) in depth and identified two structurally related diterpenes, neorogioldiol (2), and O11,15-cyclo-14-bromo-14,15-dihydrorogiol-3,11-diol (3), with equally potent activity. We investigated the mechanism of action of metabolites 1-3 and found that all three suppressed macrophage activation and promoted an M2-like anti-inflammatory phenotype by inducing expression of Arginase1, MRC1, IRAK-M, the transcription factor C/EBPβ, and the miRNA miR-146a. In addition, they suppressed iNOS induction and nitric oxide production. Importantly, treatment of mice with 2 or 3 suppressed DSS-induced colitis by reducing tissue damage and pro-inflammatory cytokine production. Thus, all these three diterpenes are promising lead molecules for the development of anti-inflammatory agents targeting macrophage polarization mechanisms. © 2019 by the authors. Licensee MDPI, Basel, Switzerland. This article is an open access article distributed under the terms and conditions of the Creative Commons Attribution (CC BY) license (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/)

TPL2 kinase is a suppressor of lung carcinogenesis

Lung cancer is a heterogeneous disease at both clinical and molecular levels, posing conceptual and practical bottlenecks in defining key pathways affecting its initiation and progression. Molecules with a central role in lung carcinogenesis are likely to be targeted by multiple deregulated pathways and may have prognostic, predictive, and/or therapeutic value. Here, we report that Tumor Progression Locus 2 (TPL2), a kinase implicated in the regulation of innate and adaptive immune responses, fulfils a role as a suppressor of lung carcinogenesis and is subject to diverse genetic and epigenetic aberrations in lung cancer patients. We show that allelic imbalance at the TPL2 locus, up-regulation of microRNA-370, which targets TPL2 transcripts, and activated RAS (rat sarcoma) signaling may result in down-regulation of TPL2 expression. Low TPL2 levels correlate with reduced lung cancer patient survival and accelerated onset and multiplicity of urethane-induced lung tumors in mice. Mechanistically, TPL2 was found to antagonize oncogene-induced cell transformation and survival through a pathway involving p53 downstream of cJun N-terminal kinase (JNK) and be required for optimal p53 response to genotoxic stress. These results identify multiple oncogenic pathways leading to TPL2 deregulation and highlight its major tumor-suppressing function in the lung