Tepoxalin blocks neutrophil migration into cutaneous inflammatory sites by inhibiting Mac-1 and E-selectin expression

Inflammation is characterized by the migration of polymorphonuclear leukocytes from the vasculature into the tissue causing profound injury. Adhesion and migration of neutrophils across the vascular bed are governed by a series of complex events including cytokine/chemokine production which in turn orchestrates the temporal expression of a cohort of adhesion molecules mediating the migration. Many of these adhesion molecules and their inducers are under the control of inflammatory response transcriptional factors such as NF kappa B and AP-1. Recently we showed tepoxalin, previously known as a dual cyclooxygenase/lipoxygenase (CO/LO) inhibitor, to be a potent inhibitor of NF kappa B-induced transcription in vitro. In this study, we demonstrated that when administered in vivo, tepoxalin but not naproxen (a nonsteroidal anti-inflammatory drug, NSAID) or zileuton (an LO inhibitor), effectively inhibits neutrophil migration into inflammatory sites in murine skin stimulated by either lipopolysaccharide (LPS) or tumor necrosis factor-alpha. Immunohistochemical analysis indicates that 10-50 mg/kg of tepoxalin inhibits neutrophil migration. It also effectively blocks the upregulation of Mac-1 (CD11b/CD18) on neutrophils. Quantitative polymerase chain reaction Mac-1 analysis shows that LPS-induced transcription of E-selectin mRNA was dramatically suppressed by both 25 and 50 mg/kg of tepoxalin, whereas the level of ICAM-1 was only affected by 50 mg/kg of tepoxalin. Since it has been documented that the expression of E-selectin and Mac-1 is regulated either directly or indirectly by the transcription factor NF kappa B, our studies provide in vivo evidence that tepoxalin is a potent inhibitor of NF kappa B-mediated events in animal models and this novel molecular mechanism clearly defines it as a new class of anti-inflammatory compounds.