Inhibiting ex-vivo Th17 responses in Ankylosing Spondylitis by targeting Janus kinases

Treatment options for Ankylosing Spondylitis (AS) are still limited. The T helper cell 17 (Th17) pathway has emerged as a major driver of disease pathogenesis and a good treatment target. Janus kinases (JAK) are key transducers of cytokine signals in Th17 cells and therefore promising targets for the treatment of AS. Here we investigate the therapeutic potential of four different JAK inhibitors on cells derived from AS patients and healthy controls, cultured in-vitro under Th17-promoting conditions. Levels of IL-17A, IL-17F, IL-22, GM-CSF and IFN gamma were assessed by ELISA and inhibitory effects were investigated with Phosphoflow. JAK1/2/3 and TYK2 were silenced in CD4+ T cells with siRNA and effects analyzed by ELISA (IL-17A, IL-17F and IL-22), Western Blot, qPCR and Phosphoflow. In-vitro inhibition of CD4+ T lymphocyte production of multiple Th17 cytokines (IL-17A, IL-17F and IL-22) was achieved with JAK inhibitors of differing specificity, as well as by silencing of JAK1-3 and Tyk2, without impacting on cell viability or proliferation. Our preclinical data suggest JAK inhibitors as promising candidates for therapeutic trials in AS, since they can inhibit multiple Th17 cytokines simultaneously. Improved targeting of TYK2 or other JAK isoforms may confer tailored effects on Th17 responses in AS

Baseline JAK phosphorylation profile of peripheral blood leukocytes, studied by whole blood phosphospecific flow cytometry, is associated with 1-year treatment response in early rheumatoid arthritis

Background: We found recently that baseline signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 phosphorylation in peripheral blood CD4(+) T cells of patients with early rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is associated with treatment response to synthetic disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs (DMARDs). This prompted us to study the baseline phosphorylation profiles of Janus kinases (JAKs) in blood leukocytes with respect to treatment response in early RA. Methods: Thirty-five DMARD-naive patients with early RA provided blood samples for whole blood flow cytometric determination of phosphorylation of JAKs in CD4(+) and CD8(+) T cells, CD19(+) B cells, and CD14(+) monocytes. Treatment response was determined after 1 year of treatment with synthetic DMARDs, with remission defined as absence of tender and swollen joints and normal erythrocyte sedimentation rate. Exact logistic regression was used to investigate the association of baseline variables with treatment response. Ninety-five percent CIs of means were estimated by bias-corrected bootstrapping. Results: High JAK3 phosphorylation in CD4(+) and CD8(+) T cells, CD19(+) B cells, and CD14(+) monocytes and low JAK2 phosphorylation in CD14(+) monocytes were significantly associated with remission following treatment with synthetic DMARDs. Conclusions: Baseline JAK phosphorylation profile in peripheral blood leukocytes may provide a means to predict treatment response achieved by synthetic DMARDs among patients with early RA.Peer reviewe

What is the future of targeted therapy in rheumatology: biologics or small molecules?

Background: Until late in the 20th century, the therapy of rheumatic diseases relied on the use of drugs that had been developed through empirical approaches without detailed understanding of the molecular mechanisms involved. That approach changed with the introduction of biologic therapeutics at the end of the 20th century and by the recent development of small-molecule inhibitors of intracellular signal transduction pathways. Here we compare and discuss the advantages and disadvantages of those two groups of targeted anti-inflammatory therapeutics.Discussion: TNF-blocking biologic agents were introduced into the therapy of rheumatoid arthritis and other autoimmune and inflammatory diseases in the late 1990s. Further biologic agents targeting cytokine networks or specific lymphocyte subsets have since been added to the armamentarium of anti-rheumatic therapy. During the last few years, another wave of novel discoveries led to the development of a new class of small molecule anti-inflammatory compounds targeting intracellular signal transduction molecules, such as tyrosine kinases. In all those cases, the specific targets of the drugs are well defined and significant knowledge about their role in the disease pathomechanism is available, qualifying them for being targeted therapeutics for inflammatory rheumatic diseases. While both groups of targeted therapeutics offer significant clinical benefit, they clearly differ in several aspects, such as the localization of their targets, their route of administration and target specificity, as well as technical details such as manufacturing procedures and cost basis. In this debate paper, we compare the advantages and disadvantages of the two different approaches, aiming to shed light on the possible future of targeted therapies.Summary: Biologic therapeutics and small-molecule inhibitors both have significant advantages and disadvantages in the therapy of rheumatic diseases. The future of targeted therapies is one of the most exciting questions of current rheumatology research and therapy. © 2014 Mócsai et al.; licensee BioMed Central Ltd

Substantial Alterations of the Cutaneous Bacterial Biota in Psoriatic Lesions

For psoriasis, an idiopathic inflammatory disorder of the skin, the microbial biota has not been defined using cultivation-independent methods. We used broad-range 16S rDNA PCR for archaea and bacteria to examine the microbiota of normal and psoriatic skin. From 6 patients, 19 cutaneous samples (13 from diseased skin and 6 from normal skin) were obtained. Extracted DNA was subjected to the broad range PCR, and 1,925 cloned products were compared with 2,038 products previously reported from healthy persons. Using 98% sequence identity as a species boundary, 1,841 (95.6%) clones were similar to known bacterial 16S rDNA, representing 6 phyla, 86 genera, or 189 species-level operational taxonomic unit (SLOTU); 84 (4.4%) clones with <98% identity probably represented novel species. The most abundant and diverse phylum populating the psoriatic lesions was Firmicutes (46.2%), significantly (P<0.001) overrepresented, compared to the samples from uninvolved skin of the patients (39.0%) and healthy persons (24.4%). In contrast, Actinobacteria, the most prevalent and diverse phylum in normal skin samples from both healthy persons (47.6%) and the patients (47.8%), was significantly (P<0.01) underrepresented in the psoriatic lesion samples (37.3%). Representation of Propionibacterium species were lower in the psoriatic lesions (2.9±5.5%) than from normal persons (21.1±18.2%; P<0.001), whereas normal skin from the psoriatic patients showed intermediate levels (12.3±21.6%). We conclude that psoriasis is associated with substantial alteration in the composition and representation of the cutaneous bacterial biota

Peptide Substrates for Rho-Associated Kinase 2 (Rho-Kinase 2/ROCK2)

Peptide substrates sensitive for a certain protein kinase could be important for new-drug development and to understand the mechanism of diseases. Rho-associated kinase (Rho-kinase/ROCK) is a serine/threonine kinase, and plays an important part in cardiovascular disease, migration and invasion of tumor cells, and in neurological disorders. The purpose of this study was to find substrates with high affinity and sensitivity for ROCK2. We synthesized 136 peptide substrates from protein substrates for ROCK2 with different lengths and charged peptides. Incorporation of 32P [counts per minute (CPM)] for each peptide substrate was determined by the radiolabel assay using [γ-32P]ATP. When the top five peptide substrates showing high CPMs (R4, R22, R133, R134, and R135) were phosphorylated by other enzymes (PKA, PKCα, and ERK1), R22, R133, and R135 displayed the highest CPM level for ROCK2 compared with other enzymes, whereas R4 and R134 showed similar CPM levels for ROCK2 and PKCα. We hypothesize that R22, R133, and R135 can be useful peptide substrates for ROCK2

JunB is essential for IL-23-dependent pathogenicity of Th17 cells

CD4+ T-helper cells producing interleukin-17 (IL-17), known as T-helper 17 (TH17) cells, comprise heterogeneous subsets that exhibit distinct pathogenicity. Although pathogenic and non-pathogenic TH17 subsets share a common RORγt-dependent TH17 transcriptional programme, transcriptional regulatory mechanisms specific to each of these subsets are mostly unknown. Here we show that the AP-1 transcription factor JunB is critical for TH17 pathogenicity. JunB, which is induced by IL-6, is essential for expression of RORγt and IL-23 receptor by facilitating DNA binding of BATF at the Rorc locus in IL-23-dependent pathogenic TH17 cells, but not in TGF-β1-dependent non-pathogenic TH17 cells. Junb-deficient T cells fail to induce TH17-mediated autoimmune encephalomyelitis and colitis. However, JunB deficiency does not affect the abundance of gut-resident non-pathogenic TH17 cells. The selective requirement of JunB for IL-23-dependent TH17 pathogenicity suggests that the JunB-dependent pathway may be a therapeutic target for autoimmune diseases

Sex Bias in Pathogenesis of Autoimmune Neuroinflammation: Relevance for Dimethyl Fumarate Immunomodulatory/Anti-oxidant Action

In the present study, upon showing sexual dimorphism in dimethyl fumarate (DMF) efficacy to moderate the clinical severity of experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) in Dark Agouti rats, cellular and molecular substrate of this dimorphism was explored. In rats of both sexes, DMF administration from the day of immunization attenuated EAE severity, but this effect was more prominent in males leading to loss of the sexual dimorphism observed in vehicle-administered controls. Consistently, in male rats, DMF was more efficient in diminishing the number of CD4+ T lymphocytes infiltrating spinal cord (SC) and their reactivation, the number of IL-17+ T lymphocytes and particularly cellularity of their highly pathogenic IFN-gamma+GM-CSF+IL-17+ subset. This was linked with changes in SC CD11b+CD45+TCR alpha beta- microglia/proinflammatory monocyte progeny, substantiated in a more prominent increase in the frequency of anti-inflammatory phygocyting CD163+ cells and the cells expressing high surface levels of immunoregulatory CD83 molecule (associated with apoptotic cells phagocytosis and implicated in downregulation of CD4+ T lymphocyte reactivation) among CD11b+CD45+TCR alpha beta- cells in male rat SC. These changes were associated with greater increase in the nuclear factor (erythroid-derived 2)-like 2 expression in male rats administered with DMF. In accordance with the previous findings, DMF diminished reactive nitrogen and oxygen species generation and consistently, SC level of advanced oxidation protein products, to the greater extent in male rats. Overall, our study indicates sex-specificity in the sensitivity of DMF cellular and molecular targets and encourages sex-based clinical research to define significance of sex for action of therapeutic agents moderating autoimmune neuroinflammation-/oxidative stress-related nervous tissue damage