HuR modulation with tanshinone mimics impairs LPS response in murine macrophages

Lipopolysaccharide exposure to macrophages induces an inflammatory response that is heavily regulated at the transcriptional and post-transcriptional levels. HuR (ELAVL1) is an RNA binding protein that binds and regulates the maturation and half-life of AU/U rich elements (ARE) containing cytokines and chemokines transcripts, mediating the LPS-induced response. Here we investigated how and to what extent small molecule tanshinone mimics (TMs) inhibiting HuR-RNA interaction counteract LPS stimulus in macrophages. We show TMs exist in solution in keto-enolic tautomerism and that, by molecular dynamic calculations, the orto quinone form is the bioactive species interacting with HuR and inhibiting its binding mode vs mRNA targets. A chemical blockage of the diphenolic, reduced form as a diacetate caused the loss of activity of TMsin vitrobut resulted to prodrug-like activityin vivo. The murine macrophage cell line RAW264.7 was treated with LPS and TMs, and the modulation of cellular LPS-induced response was monitored by RNA and Ribonucleoprotein immunoprecipitation sequencing. Correlation analyses indicated that LPS induced a strong coupling between differentially expressed genes and HuR-bound genes, and that TMs reduced such interactions. Functional annotation addressed a specific set of genes involved in chemotaxis and immune response, such asCxcl10, Il1b, Cd40, andFas, with a decreased association with HuR, a reduction of their expression and protein secretion. The same effect was observed in primary murine bone marrow-derived macrophages, andin vivoin an LPS induced peritonitis model, in which the serum level of Cxcl10 and Il1b was strongly reduced, endowing TMs such asTM7noxwith remarkable anti-inflammatory propertiesin vivo.