Y-320

Over production of interleukin (IL)-15 and IL-17 was observed in synovial fluids of rheumatoid arthritis (RA) patients. IL-15 activates T cells and induces IL-17 production whereas IL-17 stimulates synoviocytes to release several mediators of inflammation including IL-6, TNF-alpha, IL-8, and CCL2. Thus, it is presumed that IL-15 and IL-17 play important roles in the pathogenesis of RA. Based on these results, we investigated a new anti-rheumatic drug targets IL-15 and IL-17 and found a new pyrazoleanilide derivative, Y-320 that inhibits IL-15-induced IL-17 production by T cells at 10-nM order. Therapeutic treatment with Y-320 (0.3 to 3 mg/kg orally) significantly inhibited the progression of arthritis and joint destruction in type II collagen-induced arthritis (CIA) in DBA/1J mice. Y-320 inhibited the elevation of IL-17 mRNA expression in the joint of CIA mice. Concomitant treatment with Y-320 and anti-mouse TNF-alpha antibody showed a synergistic effect in mouse CIA. Moreover, therapeutic treatment with Y-320 (0.3 and 1 mg/kg orally) ameliorated CIA in cynomolgus monkeys. Our results suggest that Y-320, a small molecule inhibitor for IL-17 production, is a candidate for the new class of orally active anti-rheumatic drug.

In the present study, a subject of atopic dermatitis (AD) is exposed progressively to allergic rhinitis (AR) and asthma (AS), which is defined as atopic march (AM). However, both the targets and compounds against AM are still largely unknown. Hence, we investigated the overlapping targets related directly to the occurrence and development of AD, AR, and AS through public databases (DisGeNET, and OMIM). The final overlapping targets were considered as key targets of AM, which were visualized by a Venn diagram. The protein–protein interaction (PPI) network was constructed using R package software. We retrieved the association between targets and ligands via scientific journals, and the ligands were filtered by physicochemical properties. Lastly, we performed a molecular docking test (MDT) to identify the significant ligand on each target. A total of 229 overlapping targets were considered as AM causal elements, and 210 out of them were interconnected with each other. We adopted 65 targets representing the top 30% highest in degree centrality among 210 targets. Then, we obtained 20 targets representing the top 30% greatest in betweenness centrality among 65 targets. The network analysis unveiled key targets against AM, and the MDT confirmed the affinity between significant compounds and targets. In this study, we described the significance of the eight uppermost targets (CCL2, CTLA4, CXCL8, ICAM1, IL10, IL17A, IL1B, and IL2) and eight ligands (Bindarit, CTLA-4 inhibitor, Danirixin, A-205804, AX-24 HCl, Y-320, T-5224, and Apilimod) against AM, providing a scientific basis for further experiments.