A nonantibiotic chemically modified tetracycline (CMT-3) inhibits intimal thickening.

Recent research has shown that the tetracycline antibiotics are pluripotent drugs that inhibit the activity of matrix metalloproteinases (MMPs) and affect many cellular functions including proliferation, migration, and matrix remodeling. We have shown that doxycycline inhibits MMP activity and intimal thickening after injury of the rat carotid artery, however we do not know whether these effects are because of the antibiotic, anti-MMP, or other actions of doxycycline. Recently, chemically modified tetracyclines have been synthesized that lack antibiotic activity but retain anti-MMP activity (CMT-3), or lack both antibiotic and anti-MMP activity (CMT-5). In the current study we have assessed the effects of treatment with CMT-3 or CMT-5 on intimal thickening after balloon catheter injury of the rat carotid artery. Rats were treated by oral gavage with 15 mg/kg/day CMT-3 or CMT-5. CMT-3 significantly reduced smooth muscle cell (SMC) proliferation in both the medial and intimal layers of the injured rat carotid artery compared to CMT-5. Furthermore, CMT-3 inhibited SMC migration from the media to the intima by 86% at 4 days after injury. CMT-3 also decreased MMP-2 activity. Finally, we found that CMT-3 treatment resulted in a significant reduction in intimal cross-sectional area from 0.23 +/- 0.01 mm(2) in the CMT-5 control group to 0.19 +/- 0.01 mm(2). There was also a reduction in elastin and collagen accumulation within the intima. We conclude that CMT-3 attenuated intimal thickening after arterial injury by inhibiting SMC proliferation, migration and MMP activity, and accumulation of extracellular matrix. The inhibitory effects of CMT-3 were independent of the antibiotic properties, but were dependent on the anti-MMP activity of the tetracycline family.