Vaccination by Two DerG LEAPS Conjugates Incorporating Distinct Proteoglycan (PG, Aggrecan) Epitopes Provides Therapy by Different Immune Mechanisms in a Mouse Model of Rheumatoid Arthritis.

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) can be initiated and driven by immune responses to multiple antigenic epitopes including those in cartilage proteoglycan (PG, aggrecan) and type II collagen. RA is driven by T helper 1 (Th1) or Th17 pro-inflammatory T cell responses. LEAPS (Ligand Epitope Antigen Presentation System) DerG peptide conjugate vaccines were prepared using epitopes from PG that elicit immune responses in RA patients: epitope PG70 (DerG-PG70, also designated CEL-4000) and the citrullinated form of another epitope (PG275Cit). The LEAPS peptides were administered alone or together in Seppic ISA51vg adjuvant to mice with PG G1 domain-induced arthritis (GIA), a mouse model of RA. Each of these LEAPS peptides and the combination modulated the inflammatory response and stopped the progression of arthritis in the GIA mouse model. Despite having a therapeutic effect, the DerG-PG275Cit vaccine did not elicit significant antibody responses, whereas DerG-PG70 (alone or with DerG-PG275Cit) induced both therapy and antibodies. Spleen T cells from GIA mice, vaccinated with the DerG LEAPS peptides, preferentially produced anti-inflammatory (IL-4 and IL-10) rather than pro-inflammatory (IFN-γ or IL-17) cytokines in culture. Similarly, cytokines secreted by CD4+ cells of unvaccinated GIA mice, differentiated in vitro to Th2 cells and treated with either or both DerG vaccine peptides, exhibited an anti-inflammatory (IL-4, IL-10) profile. These results suggest that the two peptides elicit different therapeutic immune responses by the immunomodulation of disease-promoting pro-inflammatory responses and that the combination of the two LEAPS conjugates may provide broader epitope coverage and, in some cases, greater efficacy than either conjugate alone.

Regulation of autoimmune arthritis by the SHP-1 tyrosine phosphatase.

BACKGROUND: The Src homology region 2 domain-containing phosphatase-1 (SHP-1) is known to exert negative regulatory effects on immune cell signaling. Mice with mutations in the Shp1 gene develop inflammatory skin disease and autoimmunity, but no arthritis. We sought to explore the role of SHP-1 in arthritis using an autoimmune mouse model of rheumatoid arthritis. We generated Shp1 transgenic (Shp1-Tg) mice to study the impact of SHP-1 overexpression on arthritis susceptibility and adaptive immune responses. METHODS: SHP-1 gene and protein expression as well as tyrosine phosphatase activity were evaluated in spleen cells of transgenic and wild type (WT) mice. WT and Shp1-Tg (homozygous or heterozygous for the transgene) mice were immunized with human cartilage proteoglycan (PG) in adjuvant, and arthritis symptoms were monitored. Protein tyrosine phosphorylation level, net cytokine secretion, and serum anti-human PG antibody titers were measured in immune cells from WT and Shp1-Tg mice. WT mice were treated with regorafenib orally to activate SHP-1 either before PG-induced arthritis (PGIA) symptoms developed (preventive treatment) or starting at an early stage of disease (therapeutic treatment). Data were statistically analyzed and graphs created using GraphPad Prism 8.0.2 software. RESULTS: SHP-1 expression and tyrosine phosphatase activity were elevated in both transgenic lines compared to WT mice. While all WT mice developed arthritis after immunization, none of the homozygous Shp1-Tg mice developed the disease. Heterozygous transgenic mice, which showed intermediate PGIA incidence, were selected for further investigation. We observed differences in interleukin-4 and interleukin-10 production in vitro, but serum anti-PG antibody levels were not different between the genotypes. We also found decreased tyrosine phosphorylation of several proteins of the JAK/STAT pathway in T cells from PG-immunized Shp1-Tg mice. Regorafenib administration to WT mice prevented the development of severe PGIA or reduced disease severity when started after disease onset. CONCLUSIONS: Resistance to arthritis in the presence of SHP-1 overexpression likely results from the impairment of tyrosine phosphorylation (deactivation) of key immune cell signaling proteins in the JAK/STAT pathway, due to the overwhelming tyrosine phosphatase activity of the enzyme in Shp1-Tg mice. Our study is the first to investigate the role of SHP-1 in autoimmune arthritis using animals overexpressing this phosphatase. Pharmacological activation of SHP-1 might be considered as a new approach to the treatment of autoimmune arthritis.

Amelioration of Autoimmune Arthritis in Mice Treated With the DNA Methyltransferase Inhibitor 5'-Azacytidine.

OBJECTIVE: Disease-associated, differentially hypermethylated regions have been reported in rheumatoid arthritis (RA), but no DNA methyltransferase inhibitors have been evaluated in either RA or any animal models of RA. The present study was conducted to evaluate the therapeutic potential of 5'-azacytidine (5'-azaC), a DNA methyltransferase inhibitor, and explore the cellular and gene regulatory networks involved in the context of autoimmune arthritis. METHODS: A disease-associated genome-wide DNA methylation profile was explored by methylated CpG island recovery assay-chromatin immunoprecipitation (ChIP) in arthritic B cells. Mice with proteoglycan-induced arthritis (PGIA) were treated with 5'-azaC. The effect of 5'-azaC on the pathogenesis of PGIA was explored by measuring serum IgM and IgG1 antibody levels using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, investigating the efficiency of class-switch recombination (CSR) and Aicda gene expression using real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction, monitoring germinal center (GC) formation by immunohistochemistry, and determining alterations in B cell subpopulations by flow cytometry. The 5'-azaC-induced regulation of the Aicda gene was explored using RNA interference, ChIP, and luciferase assays. RESULTS: We explored arthritis-associated hypermethylated regions in mouse B cells and demonstrated that DNA demethylation had a beneficial effect on autoimmune arthritis. The 5'-azaC-mediated demethylation of the epigenetically inactivated Ahr gene resulted in suppressed expression of the Aicda gene, reduced CSR, and compromised GC formation. Ultimately, this process led to diminished IgG1 antibody production and amelioration of autoimmune arthritis in mice. CONCLUSION: DNA hypermethylation plays a leading role in the pathogenesis of autoimmune arthritis and its targeted inhibition has therapeutic potential in arthritis management.

Transcription factor Zbtb38 downregulates the expression of anti-inflammatory IL1r2 in mouse model of rheumatoid arthritis.

DNA methylation is a decisive regulator of gene expression. Differentially methylated promoters were described in rheumatoid arthritis (RA), but we do not know how these epimutations can trigger a proinflammatory cytokine milieu. B cell-focused DNA methylome studies identified a group of genes that had undergone disease-associated changes in a murine model of RA. An arthritis-specific epimutation (hypomethylation) was detected in the promoter region of the Zbtb38 gene, which encodes a transcriptional repressor. Gene expression studies revealed that hypomethylation of the Zbtb38 promoter was accompanied by disease-specific repressor expression, and two anti-inflammatory factors interleukin 1 receptor 2 gene (IL1r2) and interleukin-1 receptor antagonist (IL1rn) were among the downregulated genes. We hypothesized that Zbtb38 repressor could induce downregulated expression of these anti-inflammatory genes and that this could significantly contribute to arthritis pathogenesis. Our studies demonstrate that Zbtb38 forms a molecular bridge between an arthritis-associated epimutation (DNA hypomethylation in Zbtb38 promoter) and transcriptional silencing of the IL1r2 gene in B cells. In this way, disease-associated DNA hypomethylation can support autoimmune arthritis by interfering with an anti-inflammatory pathway.

A differential gene expression study: Ptpn6 (SHP-1)-insufficiency leads to neutrophilic dermatosis-like disease (NDLD) in mice.

BACKGROUND: Irradiated syngeneic wild-type mice developed the same neutrophilic dermatosis-like disease (NDLD) after adoptive transfer of bone marrow cells from Ptpn6(meb2/meb2) mutant mice. OBJECTIVE: To analyze differentially expressed genes in the bone marrow of mice with NDLD to gain insight into the role of Ptpn6 in myelopoietic bone marrow pathology, and the mechanisms by which Ptpn6 insufficiency in the hematopoietic cells can lead to the development of skin lesions. METHODS: As Ptpn6 is involved in a myriad of signaling pathways, we used a global approach with microarray technology for the first time to characterize changes in the bone marrow and skin of motheaten-type mice. RESULTS: A total number of 1,511 probe sets in the bone marrow showed at least two-fold changes with FDR <0.05, of which 256 probe sets had over four-fold changes. A group of 63 genes in the bone marrow of NDLD mice had more than a 4-fold change with FDR <0.0001. From 503 genes encoding proteins with ITIM motif that binds to Ptpn6, 109 were up-regulated and 83 were down-regulated. We found that genes encoding hematopoietic receptors, neutrophil chemoattractants, Toll-like receptors (Tlr1, Tlr2 and Tlr4) and C-type lectin innate immunity receptors (Clec4e, Clec4d, Clec4n, Clec4a2 and Clec4a3) were significantly up-regulated in both NDLD bone marrow and skin. The Il1b gene was also significantly overexpressed in skin samples, confirming the importance of the IL-1/TLR pathway in the development of early skin inflammation in NDLD mice. CONCLUSION: Our results suggest that innate immunity genes play a major role in development of neutrophilic dermatosis-like disease in mice.

Impaired defense mechanism against inflammation, hyperalgesia, and airway hyperreactivity in somatostatin 4 receptor gene-deleted mice.

We have shown that somatostatin released from activated capsaicin-sensitive nociceptive nerve endings during inflammatory processes elicits systemic anti-inflammatory and analgesic effects. With the help of somatostatin receptor subtype 4 gene-deleted mice (sst(4)(-/-)), we provide here several lines of evidence that this receptor has a protective role in a variety of inflammatory disease models; several symptoms are more severe in the sst(4) knockout animals than in their wild-type counterparts. Acute carrageenan-induced paw edema and mechanical hyperalgesia, inflammatory pain in the early phase of adjuvant-evoked chronic arthritis, and oxazolone-induced delayed-type hypersensitivity reaction in the skin are much greater in mice lacking the sst(4) receptor. Airway inflammation and consequent bronchial hyperreactivity elicited by intranasal lipopolysaccharide administration are also markedly enhanced in sst(4) knockouts, including increased perivascular/peribronchial edema, neutrophil/macrophage infiltration, mucus-producing goblet cell hyperplasia, myeloperoxidase activity, and IL-1beta, TNF-alpha, and IFN-gamma expression in the inflamed lung. It is concluded that during these inflammatory conditions the released somatostatin has pronounced counterregulatory effects through sst(4) receptor activation. Thus, this receptor is a promising novel target for developing anti-inflammatory, analgesic, and anti-asthmatic drugs.