bx-471 and Asthma

Asthma is a chronic inflammatory respiratory disease accompanied with airway inflammation, airway remodeling and bronchial hyperresponsiveness. Chemokines are important for the recruitment of immune cells to the lung, which play an important role in the formation and development of asthma. Targeting the chemokine receptors to anti-inflammation and anti-asthma is a new strategy and some candidate drugs are discovered recently. This review is focused on the development of chemokine receptor antagonists for anti-asthma, which will promote the compound designations.

Topics: Animals; Anti-Asthmatic Agents; Asthma; Benzylamines; Cyclams; Heterocyclic Compounds; Humans; Phenylurea Compounds; Piperidines; Pyridazines; Receptors, CCR1; Receptors, CCR3; Receptors, CCR4; Receptors, Chemokine; Receptors, CXCR4

Eosinophils are terminally differentiated cells derived from hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs) in the bone marrow. Several studies have confirmed the effective roles of eosinophils in asthmatic airway pathogenesis. However, their regulatory functions have not been well elucidated. Here, increased C-C chemokine ligand 6 (CCL6) in asthmatic mice and the human orthologs CCL15 and CCL23 that are highly expressed in asthma patients are described, which are mainly derived from eosinophils. Using Ccl6 knockout mice, further studies revealed CCL6-dependent allergic airway inflammation and committed eosinophilia in the bone marrow following ovalbumin (OVA) challenge and identified a CCL6-CCR1 regulatory axis in hematopoietic stem cells (HSCs). Eosinophil differentiation and airway inflammation were remarkably decreased by the specific CCR1 antagonist BX471. Thus, the study identifies that the CCL6-CCR1 axis is involved in the crosstalk between eosinophils and HSCs during the development of allergic airway inflammation, which also reveals a potential therapeutic strategy for targeting G protein-coupled receptors (GPCRs) for future clinical treatment of asthma.

Topics: Adolescent; Adult; Aged; Animals; Asthma; Bone Marrow; Cell Differentiation; Chemokines, CC; Eosinophils; Female; Healthy Volunteers; Hematopoietic Stem Cells; Humans; Hypersensitivity; Inflammation; Lung; Macrophage Inflammatory Proteins; Male; Mice; Mice, Knockout; Middle Aged; Ovalbumin; Phenylurea Compounds; Piperidines; Receptors, CCR1; Signal Transduction; Young Adult

CC chemokine receptor 1 (CCR1) represents a promising target in chronic airway inflammation and remodeling due to fungus-associated allergic asthma. The present study addressed the therapeutic effect of a nonpeptide CCR1 antagonist, BX-471, in a model of chronic fungal asthma induced by Aspergillus fumigatus conidia. BX-471 treatment of isolated macrophages inhibited CCL22 and TNF-alpha and promoted IL-10 release. BX-471 also increased toll like receptor-9 (TLR9) and decreased TLR2 and TLR6 expression in these cells. When administered daily by intraperitoneal injection, from days 15 to 30 after the initiation of chronic fungal asthma, BX-471 (3, 10, or 30 mg kg(-1)) dose-dependently reduced airway inflammation, hyper-responsiveness, and remodeling at day 30 after conidia challenge. The maximal therapeutic effect was observed at the 10 mg kg(-1) dose. In summary, the therapeutic administration of BX-471 significantly attenuated experimental fungal asthma via its effects on both innate and adaptive immune processes.

Topics: Animals; Aspergillosis; Aspergillus fumigatus; Asthma; Chronic Disease; Disease Models, Animal; Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; Female; Immunity, Innate; Macrophages, Peritoneal; Mice; Mice, Inbred BALB C; Mice, Inbred CBA; Phenylurea Compounds; Piperidines; Receptors, CCR1; Receptors, Chemokine