CXCL12-CXCR4 signaling controls multiple physiological processes and its dysregulation is associated with cancers and inflammatory diseases. To discover as-yet-unknown endogenous ligands of CXCR4, we screened a blood-derived peptide library for inhibitors of CXCR4-tropic HIV-1 strains. This approach identified a 16 amino acid fragment of serum albumin as an effective and highly specific CXCR4 antagonist. The endogenous peptide, termed EPI-X4, is evolutionarily conserved and generated from the highly abundant albumin precursor by pH-regulated proteases. EPI-X4 forms an unusual lasso-like structure and antagonizes CXCL12-induced tumor cell migration, mobilizes stem cells, and suppresses inflammatory responses in mice. Furthermore, the peptide is abundant in the urine of patients with inflammatory kidney diseases and may serve as a biomarker. Our results identify EPI-X4 as a key regulator of CXCR4 signaling and introduce proteolysis of an abundant precursor protein as an alternative concept for chemokine receptor regulation.

A three-dimensional model of the chemokine receptor CCR5 has been built to fulfill structural peculiarities of its alpha-helix bundle and to distinguish known CCR5 antagonists from randomly chosen drug-like decoys. In silico screening of a library of 1.6 million commercially available compounds against the CCR5 model by sequential filters (drug-likeness, 2-D pharmacophore, 3-D docking, scaffold clustering) yielded a hit list of 59 compounds, out of which 10 exhibited a detectable binding affinity to the CCR5 receptor. Unexpectedly, most binders tested in a functional assay were shown to be agonists of the CCR5 receptor. A follow-up database query based on similarity to the most potent binders identified three new CCR5 agonists. Despite a moderate affinity of all nonpeptide ligands for the CCR5 receptor, one of the agonists was shown to promote efficient receptor internalization, which is a process therapeutically favorable for protection against HIV-1 infection.

The chemokine CXCL12 and the receptor CXCR4 play pivotal roles in normal vascular and neuronal development, in inflammatory responses, and in infectious diseases and cancer. For instance, CXCL12 has been shown to mediate human immunodeficiency virus-induced neurotoxicity, proliferative retinopathy and chronic inflammation, whereas its receptor CXCR4 is involved in human immunodeficiency virus infection, cancer metastasis and in the rare disease known as the warts, hypogammaglobulinemia, immunodeficiency, and myelokathexis (WHIM) syndrome. As we screened chemical libraries to find inhibitors of the interaction between CXCL12 and the receptor CXCR4, we identified synthetic compounds from the family of chalcones that reduce binding of CXCL12 to CXCR4, inhibit calcium responses mediated by the receptor, and prevent CXCR4 internalization in response to CXCL12. We found that the chemical compounds display an original mechanism of action as they bind to the chemokine but not to CXCR4. The highest affinity molecule blocked chemotaxis of human peripheral blood lymphocytes ex vivo. It was also active in vivo in a mouse model of allergic eosinophilic airway inflammation in which we detected inhibition of the inflammatory infiltrate. The compound showed selectivity for CXCL12 and not for CCL5 and CXCL8 chemokines and blocked CXCL12 binding to its second receptor, CXCR7. By analogy to the effect of neutralizing antibodies, this molecule behaves as a small organic neutralizing compound that may prove to have valuable pharmacological and therapeutic potential.Chemokines are small (8 -10-kDa) secreted proteins that play roles in the normal physiology of the immune system as well as in orchestrating leukocyte recruitment and activation in the context of inflammatory and infectious diseases (1). Most of them belong to one of two major subfamilies: the ␤ or CC chemokines in which two conserved cysteines from the amino terminus are adjacent to each other and the ␣ or CXC chemokines in which these two cysteines are separated by one residue. Chemokine receptors are members of the superfamily of G proteincoupled receptors characterized by seven transmembranespanning regions and coupling to heterotrimeric G proteins.The CXC chemokine stromal cell-derived factor-1 (SDF1), 5 now named CXCL12, binds to and activates the chemokine receptor CXCR4 as well as the more recently identified CXCR7 receptor (19). CXCL12 stimulates a rapid receptor-mediated intracellular calcium mobilization and signaling through a Pertussis toxin-sensitive G i protein. The response to CXCL12 and expression of the CXCR4 receptor occur at a very early stage of embryonic development and appear to be widely used whenever cell migration is required (2). Indeed mice lacking either CXCL12 or CXCR4 die prenatally and exhibit defects in vascular development, neuronal development, hematopoiesis, and cardiogenesis (3-6).Besides the regulation of homeostatic processes, the CXCR4 receptor is implicated in tumor metastasis (7) as well as in infectious and inflammatory diseases....

Fluorescence resonance energy transfer (FRET) between an adequate pair of fluorophores is an indication of closer proximity than colocalization and is used by biologists to study fluorescently modified protein interactions inside cells. We present a method for visualization of FRET images acquired by confocal sensitized emission, involving excitation of the donor fluorophore and detection of the energy transfer as an emission from the acceptor fluorophore into the FRET channel. Authentic FRET signal measurements require the correction from the FRET channel of the undesired bleed-through signals (BT) resulting from both the leak-through of the donor emission and the direct acceptor emission. Our method reduces the interference of the user to a minimum by analyzing the entire image, pixel by pixel. It proposes imaging treatments and the display of control images to validate the BT calculation and the image corrections. It displays FRET images as a function of the colocalization of the two fluorescent partners. Finally, it proposes an alternative to normalization of the FRET intensities to compare FRET signal variations between samples. This method called "FRET and Colocalization Analyzer" has been implemented in a Plug-in of the freely available ImageJ software. It is particularly adapted when transient expression of the fluorescent proteins is used thereby giving very variable expression levels or when the colocalization of the two partners is varying in proportion, in amount, and in size, as a function of time. The method and program are validated using the analysis of the spatio-temporal interactions between a G-protein coupled receptor, the tachykinin NK2 receptor, and the beta-arrestin 2 as an example.

BackgroundHIF-1α and CXCR4/CXCL12 have crucial roles in the metastatic process of colorectal cancer. Our aim was to study the significance of targeting HIF-1α and the CXCR4/CXCL12 axis in colorectal cancer to prevent the dissemination process in vitro.MethodsWe investigated CXCR4 and CXCR7 mRNA and protein expression in human colon carcinomas and the modulation of their expression by hypoxia and HIF-1α in colon cancer cell lines. The migration of tumor cells in a Boyden chamber was studied after CXCR4 inhibition with siRNA or the CXCR4/CXCL12 neutraligand, chalcone 4.ResultsAnalysis of a cohort of colon polyps and chromosome-unstable carcinomas showed that the expression of CXCR4 and CXCR7 was similar to that of the normal mucosa in the polyps and early-stage carcinomas but significantly increased in late stage carcinomas. Our data demonstrate that hypoxia strongly induced the expression of CXCR4 transcript and protein at the cell membrane, both regulated by HIF-1α, whereas CXCR7 expression was independent of hypoxia. After transient hypoxia, CXCR4 levels remained stable at the cell membrane up to 48 hours. Furthermore, reducing CXCR4 expression impaired CXCL12-induced Akt phosphorylation, whereas Erk activation remained unchanged. In contrast, reducing CXCR7 expression did not affect Akt nor Erk activation. In the presence of CXCR4 or CXCR7 siRNAs, a significant reduction in cell migration occurred (37% and 17%, respectively). Although irinotecan inhibited cell migration by 20% (p <0.001), the irinotecan and chalcone 4 combination further increased inhibition to 40% (p <0.001).ConclusionWe demonstrated, for the first time, that hypoxia upregulated CXCR4 but not CXCR7 expression in tumor cells and that the CXCR4 receptor protein level remains high at the cell membrane when the tumor cells return to normoxia for up to 48 hours. In addition we showed the interest to inhibit the CXCR4 signaling by inhibiting both the HIF-1α and CXCR4/CXCL12 pathway. CXCR4 seems to be a relevant target because it is continuously expressed and functional both in normoxic and hypoxic conditions in tumor cells.

†These authors contributed equally to the work.Activated human neuropeptide Y Y 1 receptors rapidly desensitize and internalize through clathrin-coated pits and recycle from early and recycling endosomes, unlike Y 2 receptors that neither internalize nor desensitize. To identify motifs implicated in Y 1 receptor desensitization and trafficking, mutants with varying C-terminal truncations or a substituted Y 2 C-terminus were constructed. Point mutations of key putative residues were made in athat we have identified and in the second intracellular i2 loop. Receptors were analyzed by functional assays, spectrofluorimetric measurements on living cells, flow cytometry, confocal imaging and bioluminescence resonance energy transfer assays for b-arrestin activation and adaptor protein (AP-2) complex recruitment. Inhibitory GTP-binding protein-dependent signaling of Y 1 receptors to adenylyl cyclase and desensitization was unaffected by C-terminal truncations or mutations, while C-terminal deletion mutants of 42 and 61 amino acids no longer internalized. Substitutions of Thr357, Asp358, Ser360 and Thr362 by Ala in the C-terminus abolished both internalization and b-arrestin activation but not desensitization. A Pro145 substitution by His in an i2 consensus motif reported to mediate phosphorylation-independent recruitment of b-arrestins affected neither desensitization, internalization or recycling kinetics of activated Y 1 receptors nor b-arrestin activation. Interestingly, combining Pro145 substitution by His and C-terminal substitutions significantly attenuates Y 1 desensitization. In the Y 2 receptor, replacement of His155 with Pro at this position in the i2 loop motif promotes agonist-mediated desensitization, b-arrestin activation, internalization and recycling. Overall, our results indicate that b-arrestin-mediated desensitization and internalization of Y 1 and Y 2 receptors are differentially regulated by the C-terminal motif and the i2 loop consensus motif.

Chalcone 4 (compound 1) is a small molecule that neutralizes the CXC chemokine CXCL12 and prevents it from acting on the CXCR4 and CXCR7 receptors. To overcome its poor solubility in aqueous buffers, we designed highly soluble analogues of compound 1, phosphate, L-seryl, and sulfate, all inactive by themselves on CXCL12 but when cleaved in vivo into 1, highly active locally at a low dose in a mouse airway hypereosinophilia model.

Background: The chemokine CXCL12 and its receptor CXCR4 are widely distributed and contribute to the physiopathology of inflammation.Results: Recruitment of eosinophils in the inflamed airway is selectively attenuated by short lived antagonists that block CXCL12-mediated activation of CXCR4.Conclusion: CXCL12/CXCR4 signaling regulates local leukocyte-mediated inflammation.Significance: Antedrugs of neutraligands allow dissecting the physiological role of chemokines, especially when expression occurs in multiple tissues.