Small-molecule screening identifies inhibition of salt-inducible kinases as a therapeutic strategy to enhance immunoregulatory functions of dendritic cells

TB Sundberg, HG Choi, JH Song… - Proceedings of the …, 2014 - National Acad Sciences
TB Sundberg, HG Choi, JH Song, CN Russell, MM Hussain, DB Graham, B Khor, J Gagnon
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences, 2014National Acad Sciences
Genetic alterations that reduce the function of the immunoregulatory cytokine IL-10
contribute to colitis in mouse and man. Myeloid cells such as macrophages (MΦs) and
dendritic cells (DCs) play an essential role in determining the relative abundance of IL-10
versus inflammatory cytokines in the gut. As such, using small molecules to boost IL-10
production by DCs–MΦs represents a promising approach to increase levels of this cytokine
specifically in gut tissues. Toward this end, we screened a library of well-annotated kinase …
Genetic alterations that reduce the function of the immunoregulatory cytokine IL-10 contribute to colitis in mouse and man. Myeloid cells such as macrophages (MΦs) and dendritic cells (DCs) play an essential role in determining the relative abundance of IL-10 versus inflammatory cytokines in the gut. As such, using small molecules to boost IL-10 production by DCs–MΦs represents a promising approach to increase levels of this cytokine specifically in gut tissues. Toward this end, we screened a library of well-annotated kinase inhibitors for compounds that enhance production of IL-10 by murine bone-marrow–derived DCs stimulated with the yeast cell wall preparation zymosan. This approach identified a number of kinase inhibitors that robustly up-regulate IL-10 production including the Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved drugs dasatinib, bosutinib, and saracatinib that target ABL, SRC-family, and numerous other kinases. Correlating the kinase selectivity profiles of the active compounds with their effect on IL-10 production suggests that inhibition of salt-inducible kinases (SIKs) mediates the observed IL-10 increase. This was confirmed using the SIK-targeting inhibitor HG-9-91-01 and a series of structural analogs. The stimulatory effect of SIK inhibition on IL-10 is also associated with decreased production of the proinflammatory cytokines IL-1β, IL-6, IL-12, and TNF-α, and these coordinated effects are observed in human DCs–MΦs and anti-inflammatory CD11c+ CX3CR1hi cells isolated from murine gut tissue. Collectively, these studies demonstrate that SIK inhibition promotes an anti-inflammatory phenotype in activated myeloid cells marked by robust IL-10 production and establish these effects as a previously unidentified activity associated with several FDA-approved multikinase inhibitors.
National Acad Sciences