Pharmaceutical grade synthetic peptide Thr-Glu-Lys-Lys-Arg-Arg-Glu-Thr-Val-Glu-Arg-Glu-Lys-Glu ameliorates DSS-induced murine colitis by reducing the number and pro-inflammatory activity of colon tissue-infiltrating Ly6G granulocytes and Ly6C monocytes.

A pharmaceutical grade synthetic tetradecapeptide Thr-Glu-Lys-Lys-Arg-Arg-Glu-Thr-Val-Glu-Arg-Glu-Lys-Glu (GEPON) that mimics the ezrin protein hinge region was studied in dextran sodium sulphate-induced murine experimental colitis (DSS colitis). We report that GEPON intraperitoneal injections significantly attenuated DSS-induced pathological manifestations in the large intestine, bloody diarrhoea, and body weight loss in C57BL/6 mice. GEPON markedly inhibited the transcription rate of pro-inflammatory Il1b, Il6, and Nos2 genes in the colon tissue, in contrast with those encoding anti-inflammatory factors, such as Tgfb1, I10, and Arg1, whose transcription rate did not change significantly. Using flow cytometry, we found that GEPON treatment significantly reduced the accumulation of Ly6G granulocytes and Ly6C monocytes in the colon infiltrate of DSS colitis mice. Analysis of the mRNA level in myeloid cells sorted from the colon tissue revealed that GEPON had decreased the expression of pro-inflammatory genes in both colon-infiltrating Ly6G granulocytes and Ly6C monocytes, but not in Ly6CCD64 macrophages of DSS-treated mice. The direct anti-inflammatory impact of GEPON was shown in an in vitro culture of Ly6C monocytes, as evidenced by an inhibition of IL-1 beta and IL-6 mRNA expression. Taken together, our results demonstrated that GEPON had a pronounced therapeutic effect on ulcerative colitis in a laboratory mice model and provided evidence of its curative efficacy via inhibition of colon tissue inflammation by decreasing Ly6G granulocyte and Ly6C monocyte infiltration and by reducing their pro-inflammatory activities.