Disrupting Tryptophan in the Central Hydrophobic Region Selectively Mitigates Immunomodulatory Activities of the Innate Defence Regulator Peptide IDR-1002

Biological Sex Is an Effect Modifier of Allergen-Mediated Alteration of the Lung Proteome

Asthma exhibits a distinct sex bias in the disease prevalence, severity, and response to therapy. However, sex-related differences in alterations of the lung proteome mediated by aeroallergens critical in asthma, such as house dust mites (HDM), remain unknown. In this study, we define sex-related differences in the lung proteome using an HDM-challenged mouse model by 1D LC-MS/MS. Sex-disaggregated data analysis showed that 406 proteins were uniquely altered in females, 273 proteins were uniquely altered in males, and 414 proteins were altered in both females and males in response to HDM. In a linear mixed model analysis, sex modified the HDM exposure effect for 163 proteins, i.e., a significant sex:exposure interaction was identified in 84 proteins in females and 35 proteins in males. Of these, 12 proteins showed a significant sex effect in both female and male lungs. We further selected 3 proteins Tjp1, Lamtor1, and G3BP2 for independent confirmation studies. Our findings detail the sex-specific lung proteome in response to an aeroallergen critical in asthma and demonstrate that sex is a significant effect modifier of HDM response. These results will serve as a valuable resource for delineating sex-specific mechanisms in aeroallergen-driven responses in asthma research.

IFNγ-mediated IL-33 production is dependent on the aryl hydrocarbon receptor in human bronchial epithelial cells

IL-33 is an alarmin produced by stromal cells and is known to promote airway inflammation. IL-33 is a critical mediator of steroid-unresponsiveness in severe asthma. We have previously shown that IFNγ, a cytokine known to be elevated in airway inflammation and severe asthma, enhances the abundance of IL-33 in bronchial epithelial cells. Previous studies have shown that environmental insults such as particulate matter results in activation of the aryl hydrocarbon receptor (AhR) and IL-33 production. However, the role of AhR in cytokine-mediated IL-33 production is unknown. In this study, we demonstrate that the knockdown of AhR results in significant decrease in IFNγ-mediated IL-33 production and phosphorylation of STAT1 (Y701), in human bronchial epithelial cells. The findings of this report suggest that AhR may be an essential component in IFNγ-mediated IL-33 production in the lungs.

Combination of IL-17A/F and TNF-α uniquely alters the bronchial epithelial cell proteome to enhance proteins that augment neutrophil migration

Background

The heterodimer interleukin (IL)-17A/F is elevated in the lungs in chronic respiratory disease such as severe asthma, along with the pro-inflammatory cytokine tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α). Although IL-17A/F and TNF-α are known to functionally cooperate to exacerbate airway inflammation, proteins altered by their interaction in the lungs are not fully elucidated.

Results

We used Slow Off-rate Modified Aptamer-based proteomic array to identify proteins that are uniquely and/or synergistically enhanced by concurrent stimulation with IL-17A/F and TNF-α in human bronchial epithelial cells (HBEC). The abundance of 38 proteins was significantly enhanced by the combination of IL-17A/F and TNF-α, compared to either cytokine alone. Four out of seven proteins that were increased > 2-fold were those that promote neutrophil migration; host defence peptides (HDP; Lipocalin-2 (LCN-2) and Elafin) and chemokines (IL-8, GROα). We independently confirmed the synergistic increase of these four proteins by western blots and ELISA. We also functionally confirmed that factors secreted by HBEC stimulated with the combination of IL-17A/F and TNF-α uniquely enhances neutrophil migration. We further showed that PI3K and PKC pathways selectively control IL-17A/F + TNF-α-mediated synergistic production of HDPs LCN-2 and Elafin, but not chemokines IL-8 and GROα. Using a murine model of airway inflammation, we demonstrated enhancement of IL-17A/F, TNF-α, LCN-2 and neutrophil chemokine KC in the lungs, thus corroborating our findings in-vivo.

Conclusion

This study identifies proteins and signaling mediated by concurrent IL-17A/F and TNF-α exposure in the lungs, relevant to respiratory diseases characterized by chronic inflammation, especially neutrophilic airway inflammation such as severe asthma.

Supplementary Information

The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1186/s12950-022-00323-w.

Role of Anti-Cancer Peptides as Immunomodulatory Agents: Potential and Design Strategy

The usage of peptide-based drugs to combat cancer is gaining significance in the pharmaceutical industry. The collateral damage caused to normal cells due to the use of chemotherapy, radiotherapy, etc. has given an impetus to the search for alternative methods of cancer treatment. For a long time, antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) have been shown to display anticancer activity. However, the immunomodulatory activity of anti-cancer peptides has not been researched very extensively. The interconnection of cancer and immune responses is well-known. Hence, a search and design of molecules that can show anti-cancer and immunomodulatory activity can be lead molecules in this field. A large number of anti-cancer peptides show good immunomodulatory activity by inhibiting the pro-inflammatory responses that assist cancer progression. Here, we thoroughly review both the naturally occurring and synthetic anti-cancer peptides that are reported to possess both anti-cancer and immunomodulatory activity. We also assess the structural and biophysical parameters that can be utilized to improve the activity. Both activities are mostly reported by different groups, however, we discuss them together to highlight their interconnection, which can be used in the future to design peptide drugs in the field of cancer therapeutics.

Immunobiology of Steroid-Unresponsive Severe Asthma

Asthma is a heterogeneous respiratory disease characterized by airflow obstruction, bronchial hyperresponsiveness and airway inflammation. Approximately 10% of asthma patients suffer from uncontrolled severe asthma (SA). A major difference between patients with SA from those with mild-to-moderate asthma is the resistance to common glucocorticoid treatments. Thus, steroid-unresponsive uncontrolled asthma is a hallmark of SA. An impediment in the development of new therapies for SA is a limited understanding of the range of immune responses and molecular networks that can contribute to the disease process. Typically SA is thought to be characterized by a Th2-low and Th17-high immunophenotype, accompanied by neutrophilic airway inflammation. However, Th2-mediated eosinophilic inflammation, as well as mixed Th1/Th17-mediated inflammation, is also described in SA. Thus, existing studies indicate that the immunophenotype of SA is diverse. This review attempts to summarize the interplay of different immune mediators and related mechanisms that are associated with airway inflammation and the immunobiology of SA.