title: Incomplete inhibition of sphingosine 1-phosphate lyase modulates immune system function yet prevents early lethality and non-lymphoid lesions.
abstract: BACKGROUND
  S1PL is an aldehyde-lyase that irreversibly cleaves sphingosine 1-phosphate (S1P) in the terminal step of sphingolipid catabolism. Because S1P modulates a wide range of physiological processes, its concentration must be tightly regulated within both intracellular and extracellular environments.
  
  
  METHODS
  In order to better understand the function of S1PL in this regulatory pathway, we assessed the in vivo effects of different levels of S1PL activity using knockout (KO) and humanized mouse models.
  
  
  RESULTS
  Our analysis showed that all S1PL-deficient genetic models in this study displayed lymphopenia, with sequestration of mature T cells in the thymus and lymph nodes. In addition to the lymphoid phenotypes, S1PL KO mice (S1PL(-/-)) also developed myeloid cell hyperplasia and significant lesions in the lung, heart, urinary tract, and bone, and had a markedly reduced life span. The humanized knock-in mice harboring one allele (S1PL(H/-)) or two alleles (S1PL(H/H)) of human S1PL expressed less than 10 and 20% of normal S1PL activity, respectively. This partial restoration of S1PL activity was sufficient to fully protect both humanized mouse lines from the lethal non-lymphoid lesions that developed in S1PL(-/-) mice, but failed to restore normal T-cell development and trafficking. Detailed analysis of T-cell compartments indicated that complete absence of S1PL affected both maturation/development and egress of mature T cells from the thymus, whereas low level S1PL activity affected T-cell egress more than differentiation.
  
  
  CONCLUSIONS
  These findings demonstrate that lymphocyte trafficking is particularly sensitive to variations in S1PL activity and suggest that there is a window in which partial inhibition of S1PL could produce therapeutic levels of immunosuppression without causing clinically significant S1P-related lesions in non-lymphoid target organs.
authors.affiliation: Lexicon Pharmaceuticals Inc, The Woodlands, TX, USA. pvogel@lexgen.com
authors.forename: Peter
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Vogel
authors.forename: Michael S
authors.initials: MS
authors.lastname: Donoviel
authors.forename: Robert
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Read
authors.forename: Gwenn M
authors.initials: GM
authors.lastname: Hansen
authors.forename: Jill
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hazlewood
authors.forename: Stephen J
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Anderson
authors.forename: Weimei
authors.initials: W
authors.lastname: Sun
authors.forename: Jonathan
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Swaffield
authors.forename: Tamas
authors.initials: T
authors.lastname: Oravecz
mesh_terms: D000446:Aldehyde-Lyases / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors* / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism*; D000818:Animals; D015415:Biomarkers / Q000378:metabolism; D001854:Bone Marrow Cells / Q000166:cytology / Q000276:immunology; D006410:Hematopoiesis / Q000502:physiology; D006801:Humans; D007107:Immune System / Q000502:physiology*; D008231:Lymphopenia / Q000276:immunology; D008246:Lysophospholipids / Q000378:metabolism; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D018345:Mice, Knockout; D009154:Mutation; D013110:Sphingosine / Q000031:analogs & derivatives / Q000378:metabolism; D013154:Spleen / Q000166:cytology / Q000276:immunology; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000166:cytology / Q000276:immunology; D013950:Thymus Gland / Q000166:cytology / Q000276:immunology
chemical_list: D015415:Biomarkers; D008246:Lysophospholipids; C060506:sphingosine 1-phosphate; D000446:Aldehyde-Lyases; C022649:sphingosine 1-phosphate lyase (aldolase); D013110:Sphingosine