Intravesical suplatast tosilate (IPD-1151T) inhibits experimental bladder inflammation

Interstitial cystitis is a painful bladder disease characterized by urgency, frequency and variable inflammation but there is no curative therapy. Suplatast tosilate (IPD-1151T) is an immunoregulatory compound that decreases interstitial cystitis symptoms but to our knowledge its mechanism of action is unknown. We investigated the effect of intravesical IPD-1151T on mediator release from bladder explants in experimental cystitis.

A catheter was inserted into the bladder of female mice. After urine was emptied normal saline, carbachol (100 nM) or lipopolysaccharide (10 mg/ml) was introduced with or without 10-minute pretreatment with IPD-1151T. Urine was removed after 45 minutes for histamine and tumor necrosis factor-alpha assays. The bladder was removed after 4 hours, minced into 1 mm2 pieces and cultured with or without triggers overnight for mediator release. The effect of IPD-1151T was also tested on rat skin vascular permeability as well as on purified rat peritoneal mast cells and human cord blood derived mast cells.

Carbachol significantly increased histamine release in urine (61.3% in 8 preparations, p<0.05) but not in explant medium. IPD-1151T inhibited this effect by 77%. Lipopolysaccharide induced a 350% urine histamine increase in 9 preparations (p<0.05) and a 300% tumor necrosis factor-alpha increase in explant medium. IPD-1151T inhibited the lipopolysaccharide induced medium tumor necrosis factor-alpha increase by 95% in 5 preparations (p<0.05). IPD-1151T did not inhibit rat skin vascular permeability or purified rat peritoneal mast cell activation by compound 48/80 or human cord blood derived mast cells by anti-IgE.

IPD-1151T inhibits bladder release of histamine and tumor necrosis factor-alpha through a mechanism that does not appear to involve direct mast cell inhibition. These findings may justify a beneficial effect of IPD-1151T in interstitial cystitis.