Effect of sphingosine kinase modulators on interleukin-1β release, sphingosine 1-phosphate receptor 1 expression and experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis : FTY720 analogues and inflammation

Barbour, Mark and McNaughton, Melissa and Boomkamp, Stephanie D. and MacRitchie, Neil and Jiang, Hui-Rong and Pyne, Nigel J and Pyne, Susan (2017) Effect of sphingosine kinase modulators on interleukin-1β release, sphingosine 1-phosphate receptor 1 expression and experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis : FTY720 analogues and inflammation. British Journal of Pharmacology, 174 (2). pp. 210-222. ISSN 1476-5381 (https://doi.org/10.1111/bph.13670)

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Abstract

Background and Purpose: The sphingosine analogue, FTY720 (Gilenya®) alleviates clinical disease progression in multiple sclerosis. Here we variously assessed the effects of an azide analogue of (S)-FTY720 vinylphosphonate (compound 5; a sphingosine kinase 1 activator), (R)-FTY720 methyl ether (ROMe, a sphingosine kinase 2 inhibitor) and RB-020 (a sphingosine kinase 1 inhibitor and sphingosine kinase 2 substrate) on IL-1beta formation, sphingosine 1-phosphate levels and S1P1 expression. We also assessed the effect of compound 5 and ROMe in an experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) model. Experimental Approach: We measured IL-1beta formation by macrophages, sphingosine 1-phosphate levels and S1P1 expression levels in vitro and clinical score and inflammatory cell infiltration into the spinal cord in vivo. Key Results: Treatment of differentiated U937 macrophages with compound 5, RB-020 or sphingosine (but not ROMe) enhanced IL-1beta release. This data suggests these compounds might be pro-inflammatory in vitro. However, compound 5 or ROMe reduced disease progression and infiltration of inflammatory cells into the spinal cord in EAE and ROMe induced a reduction in CD4+ and CD8+ T-cell levels in the blood (lymphopenia). Indeed, ROMe induced a marked decrease in cell surface S1P1 expression in vitro. Conclusion and Implications: This is the first demonstration that an activator of SK1 (compound 5) and an inhibitor of SK2 (ROMe, which also reduces cell surface S1P1 expression) have an anti-inflammatory action in EAE.

ORCID iDs

Barbour, Mark ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0003-1547-1289, McNaughton, Melissa ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0001-5080-6043, Boomkamp, Stephanie D., MacRitchie, Neil, Jiang, Hui-Rong, Pyne, Nigel J ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-5657-4578 and Pyne, Susan ORCID logoORCID: https://orcid.org/0000-0002-6608-9584;