Interference with heparin binding and oligomerization creates a novel anti-inflammatory strategy targeting the chemokine system - PubMed (original) (raw)

. 2004 Nov 1;173(9):5776-85.

doi: 10.4049/jimmunol.173.9.5776.

Marie H Kosco-Vilbois, Suzanne Herren, Rocco Cirillo, Valeria Muzio, Paola Zaratin, Michela Carbonatto, Matthias Mack, Amir Smailbegovic, Mark Rose, Rebecca Lever, Clive Page, Timothy N C Wells, Amanda E I Proudfoot

Affiliations

Interference with heparin binding and oligomerization creates a novel anti-inflammatory strategy targeting the chemokine system

Zoë Johnson et al. J Immunol. 2004.

Abstract

A hallmark of autoimmunity and other chronic diseases is the overexpression of chemokines resulting in a detrimental local accumulation of proinflammatory immune cells. Chemokines play a pivotal role in cellular recruitment through interactions with both cell surface receptors and glycosaminoglycans (GAGs). Anti-inflammatory strategies aimed at neutralizing the chemokine system have to-date targeted inhibition of the receptor-ligand interaction with receptor antagonists. In this study, we describe a novel strategy to modulate the inflammatory process in vivo through mutation of the essential heparin-binding site of a proinflammatory chemokine, which abrogates the ability of the protein to form higher-order oligomers, but retains receptor activation. Using well-established protocols to induce inflammatory cell recruitment into the peritoneal cavity, bronchoalveolar air spaces, and CNS in mice, this non-GAG binding variant of RANTES/CCL5 designated [44AANA47]-RANTES demonstrated potent inhibitory capacity. Through a combination of techniques in vitro and in vivo, [44AANA47]-RANTES appears to act as a dominant-negative inhibitor for endogenous RANTES, thereby impairing cellular recruitment, not through a mechanism of desensitization. [44AANA47]-RANTES is unable to form higher-order oligomers (necessary for the biological activity of RANTES in vivo) and importantly forms nonfunctional heterodimers with the parent chemokine, RANTES. Therefore, although retaining receptor-binding capacity, altering the GAG-associated interactive site of a proinflammatory chemokine renders it a dominant-negative inhibitor, suggesting a powerful novel approach to generate disease-modifying anti-inflammatory reagents.

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