T-614, a novel antirheumatic drug, inhibits both the activity and induction of cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) in cultured fibroblasts.

To elucidate the mechanism for the selective inhibition of prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) production in inflammatory tissue by T-614 (3-formylamino-7-methylsulfonylamino-6-phenoxy-4H-1-benzopyran-4-o ne), its effects on both the activity and the induction of cyclooxygenase (COX)-2 were investigated in vitro. T-614 inhibited the activity of purified COX-2 enzyme (IC50: 7.7 micrograms/ml), but was inactive against both COX-1 activities of microsomal and purified enzymes (IC50: > 300 micrograms/ml). On the other hand, when the inhibition of PGE2 production by T-614 was examined in the cultured fibroblasts stimulated with bradykinin, T-614 at 1 microgram/ml or less inhibited PGE2 release more effectively than that in the above cell-free system. Therefore, we examined which of the COX enzymes was expressed in bradykinin-stimulated fibroblasts by using both the reverse transcriptase-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and Northern blot analyses. As a result, COX-1 mRNA was constitutively expressed in the cells, whereas COX-2 mRNA was not detected without stimulation with bradykinin, but was expressed within 30 min when stimulated. Furthermore, it was found that the addition of T-614 reduced the COX-2 mRNA levels in 30 min after stimulation. These studies suggest that at least some of inhibitory effects of T-614 on prostanoids production are mediated by the synergy of the inhibition of COX-2 activity and the inhibition of induction, and such an action of T-614 may explain the pharmacological properties of this drug.