Skip to main content
U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

BET N-terminal bromodomain inhibition selectively blocks Th17 cell differentiation and ameliorates colitis in mice

Journal Article · · Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America

T-helper 17 (Th17) cells have important functions in adaptor immunity and have also been implicated in inflammatory disorders. The bromodomain and extraterminal domain (BET) family proteins regulate gene transcription during lineage-specific differentiation of naïve CD4+T cells to produce mature T-helper cells. Inhibition of acetyl-lysine binding of the BET proteins by pan-BET bromodomain (BrD) inhibitors, such as JQ1, broadly affects differentiation of Th17, Th1, and Th2 cells that have distinct immune functions, thus limiting their therapeutic potential. Whether these BET proteins represent viable new epigenetic drug targets for inflammatory disorders has remained an unanswered question. In this study, we report that selective inhibition of the first bromodomain of BET proteins with our newly designed small molecule MS402 inhibits primarily Th17 cell differentiation with a little or almost no effect on Th1 or Th2 and Treg cells. MS402 preferentially renders Brd4 binding to Th17 signature gene loci over those of housekeeping genes and reduces Brd4 recruitment of p-TEFb to phosphorylate and activate RNA polymerase II for transcription elongation. Furthermore, we show that MS402 prevents and ameliorates T-cell transfer-induced colitis in mice by blocking Th17 cell overdevelopment. Thus, selective pharmacological modulation of individual bromodomains likely represents a strategy for treatment of inflammatory bowel diseases.

Research Organization:
Brookhaven National Laboratory (BNL), Upton, NY (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE Office of Science (SC), Basic Energy Sciences (BES) (SC-22); First Hospital of Jilin University; National Natural Science Foundation of China (NSFC); National Institutes of Health (NIH)
Grant/Contract Number:
SC0012704
OSTI ID:
1409528
Report Number(s):
BNL--114580-2017-JA
Journal Information:
Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America, Journal Name: Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences of the United States of America Journal Issue: 11 Vol. 114; ISSN 0027-8424
Publisher:
National Academy of SciencesCopyright Statement
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English

References (51)

Analysis of Protein Stability and Ligand Interactions by Thermal Shift Assay journal February 2015
Dextran Sulfate Sodium (DSS)‐Induced Colitis in Mice journal February 2014
NMRPipe: A multidimensional spectral processing system based on UNIX pipes journal November 1995
[20] Processing of X-ray diffraction data collected in oscillation mode book January 1997
Development and optimization of a binding assay for the XIAP BIR3 domain using fluorescence polarization journal September 2004
Control of Inducible Gene Expression by Signal-Dependent Transcriptional Elongation journal July 2009
Th17 and Regulatory T Cells in Mediating and Restraining Inflammation journal March 2010
A Validated Regulatory Network for Th17 Cell Specification journal October 2012
Super-Enhancers in the Control of Cell Identity and Disease journal November 2013
Discrete Roles of STAT4 and STAT6 Transcription Factors in Tuning Epigenetic Modifications and Transcription during T Helper Cell Differentiation journal June 2010
Structural Basis of Site-Specific Histone Recognition by the Bromodomains of Human Coactivators PCAF and CBP/p300 journal April 2008
The Bromodomain: A New Target in Emerging Epigenetic Medicine journal December 2015
Structure and ligand of a histone acetyltransferase bromodomain journal June 1999
The AP-1 transcription factor Batf controls TH17 differentiation journal July 2009
IκBζ regulates TH17 development by cooperating with ROR nuclear receptors journal April 2010
Selective inhibition of BET bromodomains journal September 2010
Suppression of inflammation by a synthetic histone mimic journal November 2010
Dynamic regulatory network controlling TH17 cell differentiation journal March 2013
Control of adaptive immunity by the innate immune system journal March 2015
Interleukin 17–producing CD4+ effector T cells develop via a lineage distinct from the T helper type 1 and 2 lineages journal October 2005
A distinct lineage of CD4 T cells regulates tissue inflammation by producing interleukin 17 journal October 2005
The development of inflammatory TH-17 cells requires interferon-regulatory factor 4 journal August 2007
Targeting IL-17 and TH17 cells in chronic inflammation journal October 2012
Journey through the thymus: stromal guides for T-cell development and selection journal February 2006
TH17 cells in development: an updated view of their molecular identity and genetic programming journal May 2008
Epigenetic control of T-helper-cell differentiation journal February 2009
Transcriptional control of the inflammatory response journal October 2009
Innate immune mechanisms of colitis and colitis-associated colorectal cancer journal December 2010
The lineage decisions of helper T cells journal December 2002
Interactions Between the Host Innate Immune System and Microbes in Inflammatory Bowel Disease journal May 2011
Selective inhibition of CD4+ T-cell cytokine production and autoimmunity by BET protein and c-Myc inhibitors journal August 2012
CBP30, a selective CBP/p300 bromodomain inhibitor, suppresses human Th17 responses journal August 2015
STAT3 Regulates Cytokine-mediated Generation of Inflammatory Helper T Cells journal February 2007
Two-pronged Binding with Bromodomain-containing Protein 4 Liberates Positive Transcription Elongation Factor b from Inactive Ribonucleoprotein Complexes journal November 2011
Down-regulation of NF-κB Transcriptional Activity in HIV-associated Kidney Disease by BRD4 Inhibition journal May 2012
Bromodomain-containing Protein 4 (BRD4) Regulates RNA Polymerase II Serine 2 Phosphorylation in Human CD4+ T Cells journal October 2012
BET bromodomain inhibition suppresses TH17-mediated pathology journal October 2013
TopHat: discovering splice junctions with RNA-Seq journal March 2009
Trimmomatic: a flexible trimmer for Illumina sequence data journal April 2014
HTSeq--a Python framework to work with high-throughput sequencing data journal September 2014
Phenotypically distinct subsets of CD4 + T cells induce or protect from chronic intestinal inflammation in C. B-17 scid mice journal January 1993
LIGPLOT: a program to generate schematic diagrams of protein-ligand interactions journal January 1995
MOLREP an Automated Program for Molecular Replacement journal December 1997
Coot model-building tools for molecular graphics journal November 2004
Refinement of Macromolecular Structures by the Maximum-Likelihood Method journal May 1997
Anti-Inflammatory Therapy in Chronic Disease: Challenges and Opportunities journal January 2013
Regulation of NO Synthesis, Local Inflammation, and Innate Immunity to Pathogens by BET Family Proteins journal November 2013
Transcriptional and Epigenetic Control of T Helper Cell Specification: Molecular Mechanisms Underlying Commitment and Plasticity journal April 2012
Moderated estimation of fold change and dispersion for RNA-seq data with DESeq2 journal December 2014
Chronic intestinal inflammation: inflammatory bowel disease and colitis-associated colon cancer journal January 2012
IL-7 Is Essential for the Development and the Persistence of Chronic Colitis journal April 2007

Cited By (10)

Epigenetic Modification Mechanisms Involved in Inflammation and Fibrosis in Renal Pathology journal December 2018
Immunotherapy With Human Gamma Delta T Cells—Synergistic Potential of Epigenetic Drugs? journal March 2018
Bromodomain and Extraterminal Proteins as Novel Epigenetic Targets for Renal Diseases journal November 2019
BET proteins in abnormal metabolism, inflammation, and the breast cancer microenvironment journal March 2018
Computational study on the selective inhibition mechanism of MS402 to the first and second bromodomains of BRD4 journal November 2018
In silico design and molecular basis for the selectivity of Olinone toward the first over the second bromodomain of BRD4 journal October 2019
Bromodomains: a new target class for drug development journal July 2019
Bromodomain biology and drug discovery journal October 2019
Optimization of a “bump-and-hole” approach to allele-selective BET bromodomain inhibition journal January 2018
Molecular structures guide the engineering of chromatin journal June 2017

Similar Records

Recovery Profiles of T-Cell Subsets Following Low-Dose Total Body Irradiation and Improvement With Cinnamon
Journal Article · Mon Nov 30 23:00:00 EST 2015 · International Journal of Radiation Oncology, Biology and Physics · OSTI ID:22645041

Inhibition of the acetyl lysine-binding pocket of bromodomain and extraterminal domain proteins interferes with adipogenesis
Journal Article · Fri Apr 15 00:00:00 EDT 2016 · Biochemical and Biophysical Research Communications · OSTI ID:22596329