Plant-derived verbascoside and isoverbascoside regulate Toll-like receptor 2 and 4-driven neutrophils priming and...

Neutrophils have a short live in circulation and accelerate greatly local immune responses via increased granulopoiesis and migration at high numbers to infected or inflamed tissue.

Since neutrophils produce a variety of factors with destructive and pro-inflammatory potential the regulation of their homeostasis and functions might be eventually beneficial in inflammation-related pathological conditions. Herein we investigated the effect of natural-derived verbascoside (Verb) and its positional isomer isoverbascoside (IsoVerb) on neutrophil functions.

We used purified murine bone marrow (BM) neutrophils to study cell responsiveness to priming or activation via Toll-like receptors (TLRs) 2 and 4. The expression of CD11b, chemokine (CXC motif) receptor 2 (CXCR2), the intracellular level of phosphorylated p38 mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPK) and tumor necrosis factor (TNF)-α in neutrophils were determined by flow cytometry while the release of macrophage inflammatory protein (MIP)-2 in culture supernatant was determined by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA).

We found that Verb appeared less powerful inhibitor of TLR2 and TLR4-mediated apoptosis than IsoVerb. However at concentrations below 16 µM and in LPS priming conditions Verb was more selective inhibitor of CD11b and CXCR2 expression than IsoVerb. Both compounds showed similar activity on integrin/chemokine receptor expression when neutrophils were stimulated with ZY or were activated with LPS. Verb sustained CXCR2 expression and turnover via regulation of the cell responsiveness to its ligand KC (CXCL1) and via the release of MIP-2 (CXCL2). Both Verb and IsoVerb increased TNF-α production and inhibited p38 phosphorylation in TNF-α⁺ cells. We fail to discriminate sharply between Verb's and IsoVerb's efficacy when studying p38 phosphorylation in LPS stimulated neutrophils. The multi-parametric analysis provides critical insight on the range of on-target effects of Verb and IsoVerb.

The strength and selectivity of Verb and IsoVerb depended on the degree of activation and functional state of neutrophils, and both compounds are with potential to affect neutrophil-related pathologies/conditions in heterogenic populations.