Exploring the therapeutic promise of targeting Rho kinase in rheumatoid arthritis

Design, Synthesis, and Biological Evaluation of an Orally Bioavailable, Potent, and Selective ROCK2 Inhibitor for Psoriasis Treatment

Psoriasis, a prevalent chronic skin disorder, remains a significant therapeutic obstacle. This study centers on rho-associated coiled-coil-containing kinase2 (ROCK2) as an advantageous target for treating psoriasis and identifies five potent and selective ROCK2 inhibitors (A31-35). Notably, A32-35 outperform KD025 in ROCK2/ROCK1 selectivity by up to 216-fold. Among these candidates, A31 emerged as an exceedingly promising molecule, showcasing remarkable inhibitory potency (IC50 = 3.7 ± 0.8 nM), 19-fold ROCK2/ROCK1 selectivity, and favorable pharmacokinetics. Insights from the binding mode study further underscored the pivotal role of interactions with Phe103 on the P-loop in determining the selectivity between ROCK1 and ROCK2. In an imiquimod-induced psoriasis-like mouse model, oral administration of A31 notably ameliorated symptoms by targeting the IL-23/Th17 axis. Based on these compelling findings, A31 was selected as a highly promising compound for further investigation as a potential treatment for psoriasis.

Proteomic profiling of extracellular vesicles in synovial fluid and plasma from Oligoarticular Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis patients reveals novel immunopathogenic biomarkers

Introduction

New early low-invasive biomarkers are demanded for the management of Oligoarticular Juvenile Idiopathic Arthritis (OJIA), the most common chronic pediatric rheumatic disease in Western countries and a leading cause of disability. A deeper understanding of the molecular basis of OJIA pathophysiology is essential for identifying new biomarkers for earlier disease diagnosis and patient stratification and to guide targeted therapeutic intervention. Proteomic profiling of extracellular vesicles (EVs) released in biological fluids has recently emerged as a minimally invasive approach to elucidate adult arthritis pathogenic mechanisms and identify new biomarkers. However, EV-prot expression and potential as biomarkers in OJIA have not been explored. This study represents the first detailed longitudinal characterization of the EV-proteome in OJIA patients.

Methods

Fourty-five OJIA patients were recruited at disease onset and followed up for 24 months, and protein expression profiling was carried out by liquid chromatography-tandem mass spectrometry in EVs isolated from plasma (PL) and synovial fluid (SF) samples.

Results

We first compared the EV-proteome of SF vs paired PL and identified a panel of EV-prots whose expression was significantly deregulated in SF. Interaction network and GO enrichment analyses performed on deregulated EV-prots through STRING database and ShinyGO webserver revealed enrichment in processes related to cartilage/bone metabolism and inflammation, suggesting their role in OJIA pathogenesis and potential value as early molecular indicators of OJIA development. Comparative analysis of the EV-proteome in PL and SF from OJIA patients vs PL from age/gender-matched control children was then carried out. We detected altered expression of a panel of EV-prots able to differentiate new-onset OJIA patients from control children, potentially representing a disease-associated signature measurable at both the systemic and local levels with diagnostic potential. Deregulated EV-prots were significantly associated with biological processes related to innate immunity, antigen processing and presentation, and cytoskeleton organization. Finally, we ran WGCNA on the SF- and PL-derived EV-prot datasets and identified a few EV-prot modules associated with different clinical parameters stratifying OJIA patients in distinct subgroups.

Discussion

These data provide novel mechanistic insights into OJIA pathophysiology and an important contribution in the search of new candidate molecular biomarkers for the disease.

In-depth bibliometric analysis and current scientific mapping research in the context of rheumatoid arthritis pharmacotherapy

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic multifactorial disorder of autoimmune etiology with a complex pathophysiological mechanism that is not yet fully elucidated. RA pharmacotherapy includes active molecules of chemical or biological nature that offer symptomatic relief and a slowing of progression, but still in a context of incurability. Therefore, the development of continuous research and multidisciplinary collaboration is essential. Although the management of RA is a topic of significant scientific relevance, existing bibliometric analyses are insufficient to assess this vast field. Consequently, the present study examines numerous manuscripts indexed in the Web of Science database using the VOSviewer software to provide through statistical interpretation of the data a comprehensive description of RA pharmacotherapy in terms of scientific impact, current state of research, number and frequency of citations, most prolific journals, authors, and countries, along with their relationships and other useful data for the literature search/publication process. Furthermore, the use of bubble maps of term occurrence has applicability in identifying current research trends in the field of RA pharmacotherapy as well as their evolution over the years. The leader in this field in terms of published papers is the United States, and the most prolific journal is Annals of the rheumatic diseases. The global management of RA, which is characterized by extensiveness and depth due to many variables, suggests the need for a conceptual framework based on pharmacotherapy coupled with comprehensive bibliometric studies, and the results may be useful for researchers in setting specific objectives that contribute to improving RA outcomes.

RND3 Transcriptionally Regulated by FOXM1 Inhibits the Migration and Inflammation of Synovial Fibroblasts in Rheumatoid Arthritis Through the Rho/ROCK Pathway

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a systemic immune disease. Rho family GTPase 3 (RND3) has been reported to play an important role in inflammatory diseases. In this study, the expression of RND3 in RA was analyzed by gene chips. After RND3 was overexpressed, cell counting kit-8 assay was to detect the viability of fibroblast-like synovial cells (RA-FLSs). Transwell assays were to appraise the migratory and invasive capacities of RA-FLSs. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) and Western blot analysis were to estimate inflammatory response. In addition, MMP3 and MMP9 levels were also tested by ELISA analysis. After forkhead box M1 (FOXM1) was overexpressed, RND3 expression was detected by Western blot. The transcriptional relationship between FOXM1 and RND3 was predicted by HumanTFDB and JASPAR databases. Luciferase reporter and chromatin immunoprecipitation assays verified the binding ability of FOXM1 and RND3. The role of FOXM1/RND3 axis in RA was detected again by functional experiments. Western blot detected the expression of Rho/ROCK pathway-related proteins. RND3 expression was downregulated in RA. Overexpression of RND3 reduced the proliferation, migration, invasion, and inflammation of RA-FLSs. RND3 was inhibited by FOXM1 transcription, and upregulated FOXM1 reduced the inhibitory effect of RND3 overexpression on cell growth and inflammation, which might be associated with the Rho/ROCK pathway. RND3 transcriptionally regulated by FOXM1 inhibited the migration and inflammation of RA-FLSs in RA through the Rho/ROCK pathway.