7b, a novel naphthalimide derivative, exhibited anti-inflammatory effects via targeted-inhibiting TAK1 following down-regulation of ERK1/2- and p38 MAPK-mediated activation of NF-κB in LPS-stimulated RAW264.7 macrophages.

Inflammatory response plays an important role not only in the normal physiology but also in the pathology such as cancers. 7b, a novel naphthalimide-based DNA intercalator, has exhibited anti-inflammatory effects in phorbol12-myristate 13-acetate/phytohemagglutinin (PMA/PHA)-induced inflammatory responses of Jurkat T cells in our previous study. Here, we tried to further investigate its anti-inflammatory potential and the possible underlying mechanisms in lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated RAW264.7 cells and primary mouse macrophages. In our current study, ELISA and Real-time PCR revealed that non-toxic doses of 7b reduced the production and expression of pro-inflammatory cytokines, including tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), interleukin-1β (IL-1β), and interleukin-6 (IL-6) in LPS-induced RAW264.7 cells and primary mouse macrophages. Moreover, 7b dose-dependently suppressed the production of prostaglandin E2 (PGE2), nitric oxide (NO). Except for COX-1, non-toxic doses of 7b exhibited parallel inhibition of LPS-induced expression of COX-2 and iNOS at both mRNA and protein levels. The molecular mechanism was associated with inhibition of the phosphorylation/degradation of IκB-α and nuclear translocation of the NF-κB p65. Further analysis of upstream mechanisms showed that blocking of NF-κB activation by 7b was mediated by inhibiting TAK1-downstream extracellular signal-regulated kinase (ERK1/2) and p38 kinase signal pathway. Taken together, these results indicated that 7b exhibited anti-inflammatory effects by targeting inhibiting TAK1, leading to ERK1/2- and p38 MAPK-mediated inactivation of NF-κB in LPS-stimulated RAW264.7 cells, and this would make 7b a strong candidate for further study as anti-inflammatory agent.