PH dependence of a GPR4 selective antagonist hampers its therapeutic potential
Ontology highlight
ABSTRACT: Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is characterized by chronic mucosal inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract and is associated with extracellular acidification of mucosal tissue. Several extracellular pH-sensing receptors, including G protein-coupled receptor 4 (GPR4), play an important role in the regulation of inflammatory and immune responses and GPR4 deficiency has been shown to be protective in IBD animal models. To confirm the therapeutic potential of GPR4 antagonism in IBD, we tested Compound 13, a selective GPR4 antagonist, in the IL10-/- mouse model of colitis. Despite reasonable bioavailability, Compound 13 treatment did not improve colitis in this model and there were no signs of target engagement. Interestingly, Compound 13 behaved as an “orthosteric” antagonist, i.e., its potency was pH-dependent and mostly inactive at pH levels lower than 6.8 with preferential binding to the inactive conformation of GPR4. Mutagenesis studies confirmed Compound 13 likely binds to the conserved orthosteric binding site in G protein-coupled receptors, where a histidine sits in GPR4 likely preventing Compound 13 binding when protonated in acidic conditions. While the exact mucosal pH in the human disease and relevant IBD mice models is unknown, it is well established that the degree of acidosis is positively correlated with the degree of inflammation, suggesting Compound 13 is not an ideal tool to study the role of GPR4 in moderate-to-severe inflammatory conditions.
Project description:We used microarrays to identify mucosal gene signatures predictive of response to infliximab (IFX) in patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and to gain more insight into the pathogenesis of IBD. Keywords: drug response and treatment effect Mucosal biopsies were obtained at endoscopy in actively inflamed mucosa from 61 IBD patients (24 ulcerative colitis (UC), 19 Crohnâs colitis (CDc) and 18 Crohnâs ileitis (CDi)), refractory to corticosteroids and/or immunosuppression, before and 4-6 weeks after (except for 1 CDc patient) their first infliximab infusion and in normal mucosa from 12 control patients (6 colon and 6 ileum). The patients were classified for response to infliximab based on endoscopic and histologic findings at 4-6 weeks after first infliximab treatment. Total RNA was isolated from intestinal mucosal biopsies, labelled and hybridized to Affymetrix Human Genome U133 Plus 2.0 Arrays.
Project description:Colon gene expression in human IBD. The three major clinical subsets of Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) include colon-only Crohn's Disease (CD), ileo-colonic CD, and Ulcerative Colitis (UC). These experiments tested differential colon gene expression in these three types of IBD, relative to healthy control samples, and the local degree of mucosal inflammation as measured by the CD Histological Index of Severity (CDHIS). Colon biopsy samples were obtained from IBD patients at diagnosis and during therapy, and healthy controls. The global pattern of gene expression was determined using GeneSpring software, with a focus upon candidate genes identified in a recent genome wide association study in pediatric onset IBD. Data suggested that two of these candidate genes are up regulated in pediatric IBD, partially influenced by local mucosal inflammation. These experiments tested differential colon gene expression in healthy, CD, and UC samples for candidate genes identified in a recent pediatric onset IBD genome wide association study. Keywords: Single time point in CD and UC and healthy controls.
Project description:Ulcerative colitis (UC) and Crohns disease (CD) are inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) with variable, overlapping clinical features and complex pathophysiologies. To identify pathogenic processes underlying these disease subtypes, using single endoscopic pinch biopsies to estabolish 36 expression profiles, we elucidated gene expression patterns of active and inactive areas of UC and CD, and compared these to infectious colitis and healthy controls.To identify pathogenic processes underlying these disease subtypes, using single endoscopic pinch biopsies, we elucidated gene expression patterns of active and inactive areas of UC and CD, and compared these to infectious colitis and healthy controls. An unsupervised classification of a total of 36 samples yielded promising separation between IBD affected, unaffected, non-IBD colitis and normal controls, suggesting distinctive gene expression patterns for each sample type. The Significance Analysis of Microarays (SAM) software to select biologically significant changes in gene expression between groups. The criteria selected for SAM analysis are, a median false discovery rate (FDR) ? 0.00001%, fold change >2, and a Log2 mean expression index > 6.64.
Project description:Differential diagnosis in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) patients from the start of the diagnosis is challenging. In this study we tried to discriminate two subtypes of IBD such as Chron's disease(CD) and Ulcerative colitis (UC) using differential expression of genes from formalin-fixed paraffin-embedded mucosal biopsies of 33 IBD patients and 10 healthy controls.
Project description:Colon gene expression in human IBD. The three major clinical subsets of Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) include colon-only Crohn's Disease (CD), ileo-colonic CD, and Ulcerative Colitis (UC). These experiments tested differential colon gene expression in these three types of IBD, relative to healthy control samples, and the local degree of mucosal inflammation as measured by the CD Histological Index of Severity (CDHIS). Colon biopsy samples were obtained from IBD patients at diagnosis and during therapy, and healthy controls. The global pattern of gene expression was determined using GeneSpring software, with a focus upon candidate genes identified in a recent genome wide association study in pediatric onset IBD. Data suggested that two of these candidate genes are up regulated in pediatric IBD, partially influenced by local mucosal inflammation. These experiments tested differential colon gene expression in healthy, CD, and UC samples for candidate genes identified in a recent pediatric onset IBD genome wide association study. Keywords: Single time point in CD and UC and healthy controls. Colon RNA was isolated from biopsies obtained from CD and UC at diagnosis and during therapy and healthy controls. Samples were obtained from the most proximal affected segment of colon. Microarray experiments were performed as described in the CCHMC microarray core, and data was analyzed as described above in the summary. The '107' internal control CEL files (for batches 1,2,3,4,5) used for normalization of the Sample VALUEs are also contained within this data set.
Project description:Microarrays were used to analyze the gene expression in endoscopic-derived intestinal mucosal biopsies from patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and controls Mucosal biopsies were obtained at endoscopy from the colon of 97 ulcerative colitis (UC), 8 Crohn's disease (CD) patients and 11 controls. The biopsies were taken at the most affected sites but at a distance of ulcerations. Disease activity was endoscopically assessed. Total RNA extracted from mucosal biopsies was used to analyze mRNA expression via Affymetrix Human Gene 1.0 ST arrays
Project description:Kilian2024 - Immune cell dynamics in Cue-Induced Extended Human Colitis Model
Single-cell technologies such as scRNA-seq and flow cytometry provide critical insights into immune cell behavior in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). However, integrating these datasets into computational models for dynamic analysis remains challenging. Here, Kilian et al., (2024) developed a deterministic ODE-based model that incorporates these technologies to study immune cell population changes in murine colitis. The model parameters were optimized to fit experimental data, ensuring an accurate representation of immune cell behavior over time. It was then validated by comparing simulations with experimental data using Pearson’s correlation and further tested on independent datasets to confirm its robustness. Additionally, the model was applied to clinical bulk RNA-seq data from human IBD patients, providing valuable insights into immune system dynamics and potential therapeutic strategies.
Figure 4c, obtained from the simulation of human colitis model is highlighted here.
This model is described in the article:
Kilian, C., Ulrich, H., Zouboulis, V.A. et al. Longitudinal single-cell data informs deterministic modelling of inflammatory bowel disease. npj Syst Biol Appl 10, 69 (2024). https://doi.org/10.1038/s41540-024-00395-9
Abstract:
Single-cell-based methods such as flow cytometry or single-cell mRNA sequencing (scRNA-seq) allow deep molecular and cellular profiling of immunological processes. Despite their high throughput, however, these measurements represent only a snapshot in time. Here, we explore how longitudinal single-cell-based datasets can be used for deterministic ordinary differential equation (ODE)-based modelling to mechanistically describe immune dynamics. We derived longitudinal changes in cell numbers of colonic cell types during inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) from flow cytometry and scRNA-seq data of murine colitis using ODE-based models. Our mathematical model generalised well across different protocols and experimental techniques, and we hypothesised that the estimated model parameters reflect biological processes. We validated this prediction of cellular turnover rates with KI-67 staining and with gene expression information from the scRNA-seq data not used for model fitting. Finally, we tested the translational relevance of the mathematical model by deconvolution of longitudinal bulk mRNA-sequencing data from a cohort of human IBD patients treated with olamkicept. We found that neutrophil depletion may contribute to IBD patients entering remission. The predictive power of IBD deterministic modelling highlights its potential to advance our understanding of immune dynamics in health and disease.
This model was curated during the Hackathon hosted by BioMed X GmbH in 2024.
Project description:Arginase 1 (Arg1), which converts L-arginine into ornithine and urea, exerts pleiotropic immunoregulatory effects. Patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) show an enhanced expression and activity of Arg1 in the intestinal (sub-)mucosa, but the function of Arg1 in IBD remains poorly characterized. Here, we found that Arg1 expression correlates with the degree of inflammation in colitic tissues of IBD patients. In mice with - experimental colitis Arg1 was upregulated in an IL-4-/IL-13- and intestinal microbiota-dependent manner. Tie2-Cre+/-Arg1fl/fl mice lacking Arg1 in hematopoietic and endothelial cells recovered faster from colitis than Arg1-expressing littermates. This correlated with decreased vessel density, compositional changes in the intestinal microbiota, diminished infiltration by myeloid cellsand an accumulation of intraluminal polyamines that are associated with epithelial healing. Dietary L-arginine restriction abolished the protective effect of Arg1-deletion, suggesting that protection is related to an increased availability of L-arginine. Fecal microbiota transfers from Tie2-Cre+/-Arg1fl/fl mice into wildtype recipients restored the protective, anti-inflammatory phenotype while transfers from wildtype littermates into Arg1-deficient mice prevented the accelerated recovery from colitis. Thus, altered intestinal microbiota and metabolic products in Tie2-Cre+/-Arg1fl/fl mice account for the accelerated resolution from colitis in the absence of Arg1. Subsequently, L-arginine serves as novel therapeutic and diagnostic target for clinical intervention in IBD patients.
Project description:Ulcerative colitis (UC) and Crohn’s disease (CD) are inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD) with variable, overlapping clinical features and complex pathophysiologies. To identify pathogenic processes underlying these disease subtypes, using single endoscopic pinch biopsies to estabolish 36 expression profiles, we elucidated gene expression patterns of active and inactive areas of UC and CD, and compared these to infectious colitis and healthy controls. Keywords: RNA
Project description:Gut mucosal healing (MH) is considered a key therapeutic target and prognostic parameter in the management of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). The dipotassium glycyrrhizate (DPG), a salt of the glycoconjugated triterpene glycyrrhizin, has been shown to inhibit the High Mobility Group Box 1 (HMGB1) protein, an allarmin strongly implicated in the pathogenesis of most inflammatory and auto-immune disorders, included IBD. The aims of the present study is to identify genes involved in MH pathways modulated by DPG in mouse model of chemical induced acute colitis.