A Functional Variant of Elafin With Improved Anti-inflammatory Activity for Pulmonary Inflammation

• Published in: Molecular therapy Vol. 23; no. 1; pp. 24 - 31
• Main Authors: Small, Donna M, Zani, Marie-Louise, Quinn, Derek J, Dallet-Choisy, Sandrine, Glasgow, Arlene MA, O'Kane, Cecilia, McAuley, Danny F, McNally, Paul, Weldon, Sinéad, Moreau, Thierry, Taggart, Clifford C
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: United States Elsevier Inc 01.01.2015; Elsevier Limited; Cell Press; Nature Publishing Group
• Subjects: Amino Acid Sequence; Amino acids; Animals; Anti-Inflammatory Agents - chemistry; Anti-Inflammatory Agents - pharmacology; Bacterial infections; Bronchoalveolar Lavage Fluid - chemistry; Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease; Cystic Fibrosis - metabolism; Cystic Fibrosis - pathology; Dentistry; Elafin - chemistry; Elafin - genetics; Elafin - pharmacology; Extracellular matrix; Fibronectins - antagonists & inhibitors; Fibronectins - metabolism; Gene Expression; Humans; Infections; Kinetics; Lavage; Life Sciences; Lipopolysaccharides; Lung - drug effects; Lung - metabolism; Lung - pathology; Male; Mice; Molecular Sequence Data; Mutation; Neutrophils; Original; Pneumonia - chemically induced; Pneumonia - drug therapy; Pneumonia - metabolism; Pneumonia - pathology; Protease Inhibitors - chemistry; Protease Inhibitors - pharmacology; Protein Engineering; Protein Isoforms - chemistry; Protein Isoforms - genetics; Protein Isoforms - pharmacology; Proteins; Proteolysis - drug effects; Recombinant Proteins - chemistry; Recombinant Proteins - genetics; Recombinant Proteins - pharmacology; Transglutaminases - antagonists & inhibitors; Transglutaminases - metabolism; United Kingdom > UK; Northern Ireland; Ireland
• ISSN: 1525-0016; 1525-0024
• DOI: 10.1038/mt.2014.162

Elafin is a serine protease inhibitor produced by epithelial and immune cells with anti-inflammatory properties. Research has shown that dysregulated protease activity may elicit proteolytic cleavage of elafin, thereby impairing the innate immune function of the protein. The aim of this study was to generate variants of elafin (GG- and QQ-elafin) that exhibit increased protease resistance while retaining the biological properties of wild-type (WT) elafin. Similar to WT-elafin, GG- and QQ-elafin variants retained antiprotease activity and susceptibility to transglutaminase-mediated fibronectin cross-linking. However, in contrast to WT-elafin, GG- and QQ-elafin displayed significantly enhanced resistance to degradation when incubated with bronchoalveolar lavage fluid from patients with cystic fibrosis. Intriguingly, both variants, particularly GG-elafin, demonstrated improved lipopolysaccharide (LPS) neutralization properties in vitro. In addition, GG-elafin showed improved anti-inflammatory activity in a mouse model of LPS-induced acute lung inflammation. Inflammatory cell infiltration into the lung was reduced in lungs of mice treated with GG-elafin, predominantly neutrophilic infiltration. A reduction in MCP-1 levels in GG-elafin treated mice compared to the LPS alone treatment group was also demonstrated. GG-elafin showed increased functionality when compared to WT-elafin and may be of future therapeutic relevance in the treatment of lung diseases characterized by a protease burden.