5'-Rapid amplification of cDNA ends, done on poly(A)+ RNA from human U87 cells, was used to identify 420 bp of novel 5' sequence of a PDE4B cAMP-specific phosphodiesterase (PDE). This identified an open reading frame encoding a putative 721-residue 'long-form' PDE4B splice variant, which we term HSPDE4B3. HSPDE4B3 differs from the two known PDE4B forms by virtue of its unique 79-residue N-terminal region, compared with the unique N-terminal regions of 94 and 39 residues found in HSPDE4B1 and HSPDE4B2 respectively. In transfected COS7 cells the two long forms, HSPDE4B1 and HSPDE4B3, had molecular masses of approx. 104 and approx. 103 kDa respectively. Expressed in COS-7 cells, the three HSPDE4B isoforms were found in the high-speed supernatant (cytosol) fraction as well as both the high-speed pellet (P2) and low-speed pellet (P1) fractions. All isoforms showed similar Km values for cAMP hydrolysis (1.5-2.6 microM). The maximal activities of the soluble cytosolic activity of the two long forms were very similar, whereas that of the short form, HSPDE4B2, was approx. 4-fold higher. Particulate-associated HSPDE4B1 and HSPDE4B2 were less active (approx. 40%) than their cytosol forms, whereas particulate HSPDE4B3 was similar in activity to its cytosolic form. Particulate and cytosolic forms of HSPDE4B1 and HSPDE4B3 were similarly inhibited by rolipram {4-[3-(cyclopentoxyl)-4-methoxyphenyl]-2-pyrrolidone}, the selective inhibitor of PDE4 (IC50 0.05-0.1 microM), whereas particulate-associated HSPDE4B2 was profoundly (approx. 10-fold) more sensitive (IC50 0.02 microM) to rolipram inhibition than its cytosolic form (IC50 0.2 microM). The various particulate-associated HSPDE4B isoforms showed very different susceptibilities to solubilization with the detergent Triton X-100 and high NaCl concentration. A novel cDNA, called pRPDE74, was obtained by screening a rat olfactory lobe cDNA library. This contained an open reading frame encoding a 721-residue protein that showed approx. 96% amino acid identity with HSPDE4B3 and is proposed to reflect the rat homologue of this human enzyme and is thus called RNPDE4B3. Alternative splicing of mRNA generated from both the human and rat PDE4B genes produces long and short splice variants that have unique N-terminal splice regions. It is suggested that these alternatively spliced regions determine changes in the maximal catalytic activity of the isoforms, their susceptibility to inhibition by rolipram and mode of interaction with particulate fractions.

Management of severe asthma remains a challenge despite treatment with glucocorticosteroid therapy. The majority of studies investigating disease mechanisms in treatment-resistant severe asthma have previously focused on the large central airways, with very few utilizing transcriptomic approaches. The small peripheral airways, which comprise the majority of the airway surface area, remain an unexplored area in severe asthma and were targeted for global epithelial gene expression profiling in this study. Differences between central and peripheral airways were evaluated using transcriptomic analysis (Affymetrix HG U133 plus 2.0 GeneChips) of epithelial brushings obtained from severe asthma patients (N = 17) and healthy volunteers (N = 23). Results were validated in an independent cohort (N = 10) by real-time quantitative PCR. The IL-13 disease signature that is associated with an asthmatic phenotype was upregulated in severe asthmatics compared to healthy controls but was predominantly evident within the peripheral airways, as were genes related to mast cell presence. The gene expression response associated with glucocorticosteroid therapy (i.e. FKBP5) was also upregulated in severe asthmatics compared to healthy controls but, in contrast, was more pronounced in central airways. Moreover, an altered epithelial repair response (e.g. FGFBP1) was evident across both airway sites reflecting a significant aspect of disease in severe asthma unadressed by current therapies. A transcriptomic approach to understand epithelial activation in severe asthma has thus highlighted the need for better-targeted therapy to the peripheral airways in severe asthma, where the IL-13 disease signature persists despite treatment with currently available therapy.

Protein:protein interactions are fundamental in living organism homeostasis. Here we introduce VHH6, a junctional epitope antibody capable of specifically recognizing a neo-epitope when two proteins interact, albeit transiently, to form a complex. Orthogonal biophysical techniques have been used to prove the “junctional epitope” nature of VHH6, a camelid single domain antibody recognizing the IL-6–gp80 complex but not the individual components alone. X-ray crystallography, HDX-MS and SPR analysis confirmed that the CDR regions of VHH6 interact simultaneously with IL-6 and gp80, locking the two proteins together. At the cellular level, VHH6 was able to alter the response of endothelial cells to exogenous IL-6, promoting a sustained STAT3 phosphorylation signal, an accumulation of IL-6 in vesicles and an overall pro-inflammatory phenotype supported further by transcriptomic analysis. Junctional epitope antibodies, like VHH6, not only offer new opportunities in screening and structure-aided drug discovery, but could also be exploited as therapeutics to modulate complex protein:protein interactions.

1 The novel tri-aryl ethane CDP840, is a potent and selective inhibitor of cyclic AMP phosphodiesterase type 4 (PDE 4) extracted from tissues or recombinant PDE 4 isoforms expressed in yeast (IC,,. CDP840 is stereo-selective since its S enantiomer (CT 1731) is 10-50 times less active against all forms of PDE 4 tested while both enantiomers are inactive (IC50s: > 100 gM) against PDE types 1, 2, 3 and 5.2 Oral administration of CDP840 caused a dose-dependent reduction of interleukin-5 (IL-5)-induced pleural eosinophilia in rats (ED50=0.03 mg kg-'). The eosinophils in pleural exudates from CDP840-treated animals contained higher levels of eosinophil peroxidase (EPO) than cells from control animals, suggesting a stabilizing effect on eosinophil degranulation. CDP840 was approximately equi-active with the steroid dexamethasone in this model and was 10-100 times more potent than the known PDE 4-selective inhibitors rolipram and RP73401. The activity of CDP840 was not influenced by adrenalectomy, ,B-sympathomimetics or ,B-sympatholytics. 3 Antigen-induced pulmonary eosinophilia in sensitized guinea-pigs was reduced dose-dependently by CDP840 (0.01 -1 mg kg-', i.p.) and intracellular EPO levels were significantly higher. CDP840 was more potent in these activities than CT1731 or rolipram and comparable in potency to RP73401. 4 Rolipram or CDP840 were less active than dexamethasone in preventing neutrophil accumulation, or exudate formation in carrageenan-induced pleurisy in rats and thus do not exhibit general antiinflammatory activity. 5 In sensitized guinea-pigs, aerosols of the antigen ovalbumin caused a dose-dependent bronchoconstriction demonstrated by an increase in pulmonary inflation pressure. Administration of CDP840 (0.001 -1.0 mg kg-', i.p.), 1 h before antigen challenge, resulted in dose-dependent reduction in response to antigen. This activity was not due to bronchodilatation since higher doses of CDP840 (3 mg kg-') did not significantly change the bronchoconstrictor response to histamine. Rolipram was approximately 10 times less active than CDP840 in preventing antigen-induced bronchoconstriction. 6 These results confirm the observations that selective PDE 4 inhibitors reduce antigen-induced bronchoconstriction and pulmonary eosinophilic inflammation. CDP840 is more potent than rolipram in inhibiting native or recombinant PDE 4. Unlike the recently described potent PDE 4 inhibitor RP73401, CDP840 is more active than rolipram in the rat IL-5 model following oral administration. The novel series of tri-aryl ethanes, of which CDP840 is the lead compound, could be the basis of an orally active prophylactic treatment for human asthma.

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