Discovery of Small-Molecule Inhibitors of the TLR1/TLR2 Complex

The role of Toll-like receptors in neuropsychiatric disorders: Immunopathology, treatment, and management

Neuropsychiatric disorders denote a broad range of illnesses involving neurology and psychiatry. These disorders include depressive disorders, anxiety, schizophrenia, bipolar disorder, attention deficit hyperactivity disorder, autism spectrum disorders, headaches, and epilepsy. In addition to their main neuropathology that lies in the central nervous system (CNS), lately, studies have highlighted the role of immunity and neuroinflammation in neuropsychiatric disorders. Toll-like receptors (TLRs) are innate receptors that act as a bridge between the innate and adaptive immune systems via adaptor proteins (e.g., MYD88) and downstream elements; TLRs are classified into 13 families that are involved in normal function and illnesses of the CNS. TLRs expression affects the course of neuropsychiatric disorders, and is influenced during their pharmacotherapy; For example, the expression of multiple TLRs is normalized during the major depressive disorder pharmacotherapy. Here, the role of TLRs in neuroimmunology, treatment, and management of neuropsychiatric disorders is discussed. We recommend longitudinal studies to comparatively assess the cell-type-specific expression of TLRs during treatment, illness progression, and remission. Also, further research should explore molecular insights into TLRs regulation and related pathways.

The role of Toll-like receptors and neuroinflammation in Parkinson's disease

BACKGROUND

Parkinson's disease (PD) is the second most prevalent neurodegenerative disorder, characterized by motor and non-motor symptoms, significantly affecting patients' life. Pathologically, PD is associated with the extensive degeneration of dopaminergic neurons in various regions of the central nervous system (CNS), specifically the substantia nigra. This neuronal loss is accompanied by the aggregation of misfolded protein, named α-synuclein.

MAIN TEXT

Recent studies detected several clues of neuroinflammation in PD samples using postmortem human PD brains and various PD animal models. Some evidence of neuroinflammation in PD patients included higher levels of proinflammatory cytokines in serum and cerebrospinal fluid (CSF), presence of activated microglia in various brain regions such as substantia nigra, infiltration of peripheral inflammatory cells in affected brain regions, and altered function of cellular immunity like monocytes phagocytosis defects. On the other side, Toll-like receptors (TLRs) are innate immune receptors primarily located on microglia, as well as other immune and non-immune cells, expressing pivotal roles in recognizing exogenous and endogenous stimuli and triggering inflammatory responses. Most studies indicated an increased expression of TLRs in the brain and peripheral blood cells of PD samples. Besides, this upregulation was associated with excessive neuroinflammation followed by neurodegeneration in affected regions. Therefore, evidence proposed that TLR-mediated neuroinflammation might lead to a dopaminergic neural loss in PD patients. In this regard, TLR2, TLR4, and TLR9 have the most prominent roles.

CONCLUSION

Although the presence of inflammation in acute phases of PD might have protective effects concerning the clearance of α-synuclein and delaying the disease advancement, the chronic activation of TLRs and neuroinflammation might lead to neurodegeneration, resulting in the disease progression. Therefore, this study aimed to review additional evidence of the contribution of TLRs and neuroinflammation to PD pathogenesis, with the hope that TLRs could serve as novel disease-modifying therapeutic targets in PD patients in the future.

Biological Characterization, Mechanistic Investigation and Structure-Activity Relationships of Chemically Stable TLR2 Antagonists

Toll-like receptors (TLRs) build the first barrier in the innate immune response and therefore represent promising targets for the modulation of inflammatory processes. Recently, the pyrogallol-containing TLR2 antagonists CU-CPT22 and MMG-11 were reported; however, their 1,2,3-triphenol motif renders them highly susceptible to oxidation and excludes them from use in extended experiments under aerobic conditions. Therefore, we have developed a set of novel TLR2 antagonists (1-9) based on the systematic variation of substructures, linker elements, and the hydrogen-bonding pattern of the pyrogallol precursors by using chemically robust building blocks. The novel series of chemically stable and synthetically accessible TLR2 antagonists (1-9) was pharmacologically characterized, and the potential binding modes of the active compounds were evaluated structurally. Our results provide new insights into structure-activity relationships and allow rationalization of structural binding characteristics. Moreover, they support the hypothesis that this class of TLR ligands bind solely to TLR2 and do not directly interact with TLR1 or TLR6 of the functional heterodimer. The most active compound from this series (6), is chemically stable, nontoxic, TLR2-selective, and shows a similar activity with regard to the pyrogallol starting points, thus indicating the variability of the hydrogen bonding pattern.

A toll-like receptor agonist mimicking microbial signal to generate tumor-suppressive macrophages

Switching macrophages from a pro-tumor type to an anti-tumor state is a promising strategy for cancer immunotherapy. Existing agents, many derived from bacterial components, have safety or specificity concerns. Here, we postulate that the structures of the bacterial signals can be mimicked by using non-toxic biomolecules of simple design. Based on bioactivity screening, we devise a glucomannan polysaccharide with acetyl modification at a degree of 1.8 (acGM-1.8), which specifically activates toll-like receptor 2 (TLR2) signaling and consequently induces macrophages into an anti-tumor phenotype. For acGM-1.8, the degree of acetyl modification, glucomannan pattern, and acetylation-induced assembly are three crucial factors for its bioactivity. In mice, intratumoral injection of acGM-1.8 suppresses the growth of two tumor models, and this polysaccharide demonstrates higher safety than four classical TLR agonists. In summary, we report the design of a new, safe, and specific TLR2 agonist that can generate macrophages with strong anti-tumor potential in mice.

Turning tumour promoting macrophages into an anti-tumour phenotype is an attractive therapeutic strategy. Here, the authors develop a polysaccharide-based structure that mimicks pathogen-associated molecular patterns and, by activating the toll-like receptors on macrophage surface, promotes a safe anti-tumour immune response in mouse models.

Drugging Membrane Protein Interactions

The majority of therapeutics target membrane proteins, accessible on the surface of cells, to alter cellular signaling. Cells use membrane proteins to transduce signals into cells, transport ions and molecules, bind cells to a surface or substrate, and catalyze reactions. Newly devised technologies allow us to drug conventionally "undruggable" regions of membrane proteins, enabling modulation of protein-protein, protein-lipid, and protein-nucleic acid interactions. In this review, we survey the state of the art of high-throughput screening and rational design in drug discovery, and we evaluate the advances in biological understanding and technological capacity that will drive pharmacotherapy forward against unorthodox membrane protein targets.

Prospective virtual screening in a sparse data scenario: design of small-molecule TLR2 antagonists

Toll-like receptors (TLRs) are critical signaling molecules with roles in various severe clinical conditions such as sepsis and rheumatoid arthritis, and have therefore been advocated as promising drug targets for the treatment of these diseases. The aim of this study was to discover small-molecule antagonists of TLR2 by computer-aided drug design. This goal poses several challenges due to the lack of available data on TLR2 modulators. To overcome these hurdles we developed a combined structure- and ligand-based virtual screening approach. First, we calculated molecular interaction fields of the TLR2 binding site to derive a structure-based 3D pharmacophore, which was then used for virtual screening. We then performed a two-step shape- and feature-based similarity search using known TLR2 ligands as query structures. A selection of virtual screening hits was biologically tested in a cell-based assay for TLR2 signaling inhibition, leading to the identification of several compounds with antagonistic activity (IC50 values) in the low-micromolar range.