title: Modulation of the allergic asthma transcriptome following resiquimod treatment.
abstract: Resiquimod is a compound belonging to the imidazoquinoline family of compounds known to signal through Toll-like receptor 7. Resiquimod treatment has been demonstrated to inhibit the development of allergen induced asthma in experimental models. The aim of the present study was to elucidate the molecular processes that were altered following resiquimod treatment and allergen challenge in a mouse model of allergic asthma. Employing microarray analysis, we have characterized the "asthmatic" transcriptome of the lungs of A/J and C57BL/6 mice and determined that it includes genes involved in the control of cell cycle progression, the complement and coagulation cascades, and chemokine signaling. Our results demonstrated that resiquimod treatment resulted in the normalization of the expression of genes involved with airway remodeling, and generally, chemokine signaling. Resiquimod treatment also altered the expression of cell adhesion molecules, and molecules involved in natural killer (NK) cell-mediated cytotoxicity. Furthermore, we have demonstrated that systemic resiquimod administration resulted in the recruitment of NK cells to the lungs and livers of the mice, although no causal relationship between NK cell recruitment and treatment efficacy was found. Overall, our findings identified several genes, important in the development of asthma pathology, that were normalized following resiquimod treatment, thus improving our understanding of the molecular consequences of resiquimod treatment in the lung milieu. The recruitment of NK cells to the lungs may also have application in the treatment of virally induced asthma exacerbations.
authors.affiliation: Department of Medicine, Division of Experimental Medicine, McGill University, Montréal, Québec.
authors.forename: Pierre
authors.initials: P
authors.lastname: Camateros
authors.forename: Cynthia
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Kanagaratham
authors.forename: Jennifer
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Henri
authors.forename: Rob
authors.initials: R
authors.lastname: Sladek
authors.forename: Thomas J
authors.initials: TJ
authors.lastname: Hudson
authors.forename: Danuta
authors.initials: D
authors.lastname: Radzioch
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D001249:Asthma / Q000188:drug therapy* / Q000235:genetics* / Q000276:immunology; D001992:Bronchoalveolar Lavage Fluid / Q000737:chemistry / Q000166:cytology; D016827:CD8 Antigens / Q000235:genetics / Q000378:metabolism; D005434:Flow Cytometry; D020869:Gene Expression Profiling / Q000379:methods*; D005786:Gene Expression Regulation / Q000187:drug effects; D007093:Imidazoles / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D007694:Killer Cells, Natural / Q000187:drug effects / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism; D051379:Mice; D008810:Mice, Inbred C57BL; D018345:Mice, Knockout; D010047:Ovalbumin / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000276:immunology; D020133:Reverse Transcriptase Polymerase Chain Reaction
chemical_list: D016827:CD8 Antigens; D007093:Imidazoles; D010047:Ovalbumin; C402365:resiquimod