TY - JOUR
T1 - A type IV Autotaxin inhibitor ameliorates acute liver injury and nonalcoholic steatohepatitis
AU - Booijink, Richell
AU - Salgado-Polo, Fernando
AU - Jamieson, Craig
AU - Perrakis, Anastassis
AU - Bansal, Ruchi
N1 - Funding Information:
This research was funded by the Oncode Institute, the Netherlands Cancer Institute, and the University of Twente.
Publisher Copyright:
© 2022 The Authors. Published under the terms of the CC BY 4.0 license.
PY - 2022/9/7
Y1 - 2022/9/7
N2 - The lysophosphatidic acid (LPA) signaling axis is an important but rather underexplored pathway in liver disease. LPA is predominantly produced by Autotaxin (ATX) that has gained significant attention with an impressive number of ATX inhibitors (type I-IV) reported. Here, we evaluated the therapeutic potential of a (yet unexplored) type IV inhibitor, Cpd17, in liver injury. We first confirmed the involvement of the ATX-LPA signaling axis in human and murine diseased livers. Then, we evaluated the effects of Cpd17, in comparison with the classic type I inhibitor PF8380, in vitro, where Cpd17 showed higher efficacy. Thereafter, we characterized the mechanism-of-action of both inhibitors and found that Cpd17 was more potent in inhibiting RhoA-mediated cytoskeletal remodeling, and phosphorylation of MAPK/ERK and AKT/PKB. Finally, the therapeutic potential of Cpd17 was investigated in CCl4-induced acute liver injury and diet-induced nonalcoholic steatohepatitis, demonstrating an excellent potential of Cpd17 in reducing liver injury in both disease models in vivo. We conclude that ATX inhibition, by type IV inhibitor in particular, has an excellent potential for clinical application in liver diseases.
AB - The lysophosphatidic acid (LPA) signaling axis is an important but rather underexplored pathway in liver disease. LPA is predominantly produced by Autotaxin (ATX) that has gained significant attention with an impressive number of ATX inhibitors (type I-IV) reported. Here, we evaluated the therapeutic potential of a (yet unexplored) type IV inhibitor, Cpd17, in liver injury. We first confirmed the involvement of the ATX-LPA signaling axis in human and murine diseased livers. Then, we evaluated the effects of Cpd17, in comparison with the classic type I inhibitor PF8380, in vitro, where Cpd17 showed higher efficacy. Thereafter, we characterized the mechanism-of-action of both inhibitors and found that Cpd17 was more potent in inhibiting RhoA-mediated cytoskeletal remodeling, and phosphorylation of MAPK/ERK and AKT/PKB. Finally, the therapeutic potential of Cpd17 was investigated in CCl4-induced acute liver injury and diet-induced nonalcoholic steatohepatitis, demonstrating an excellent potential of Cpd17 in reducing liver injury in both disease models in vivo. We conclude that ATX inhibition, by type IV inhibitor in particular, has an excellent potential for clinical application in liver diseases.
KW - Autotaxin–lysophosphatidic acid (ATX-LPA) axis
KW - fibrosis
KW - inflammation
KW - liver disease
KW - signaling pathways
UR - http://www.scopus.com/inward/record.url?scp=85133971918&partnerID=8YFLogxK
U2 - 10.15252/emmm.202216333
DO - 10.15252/emmm.202216333
M3 - Article
C2 - 35833384
AN - SCOPUS:85133971918
SN - 1757-4676
VL - 14
JO - EMBO molecular medicine
JF - EMBO molecular medicine
IS - 9
M1 - e16333
ER -