Les maladies inflammatoires chroniques de l’intestin (MICI) telles que la maladie de Crohn et la rectocolite hémorragique sont des maladies chroniques dans lesquelles interviennent des facteurs environnementaux, immunologiques et génétiques. Récemment, il a été montré que la barrière épithéliale intestinale (BEI) était impliquée dans la physiopathologie des MICI, et des approches visant à améliorer la résistance et la réparation de cette BEI représentent de nouvelles pistes thérapeutiques prometteuses. Notre laboratoire a largement contribué ces dernières années à identifier les cellules gliales entériques (CGE), comme un nouveau composant clé du microenvironnement de la BEI, renforçant la protection de la BEI et sa cicatrisation. A l'inverse, chez les patients MICI, les CGE sont altérées à la fois d'un point de vue phénotypique et fonctionnel. Dans ce contexte, outre une meilleure compréhension des mécanismes physiopathologiques, le but de ce projet visait à identifier les CGE comme une nouvelle cible d’intérêt thérapeutique dans les MICI. Grâce à une analyse lipidomique, nous avons mis en évidence une sousproduction de différents médiateurs lipidiques par les CGE de patients MICI. Parmi eux, le 15-HETE et la PGI2 étaient capables de réguler la perméabilité de la BEI, à la fois in vitro et in vivo. De plus, ils semblaient capables de restaurer les fonctions perdues chez les patients MICI. Ainsi, nos travaux suggèrent qu'une sous-production des ces médiateurs lipidiques par les CGE de patients MICI pourraient concourir aux mécanismes physiopathologiques, et représentent une nouvelle piste thérapeutique majeure. / Chronic inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) such as Crohn's disease and ulcerative colitis are chronic diseases involving environmental, immunological and genetic factors. Recently, the intestinal epithelial barrier (IEB) has been shown to be involved in the pathophysiology of IBD, and approaches to improve the resistance and repair of this IEB represent promising new therapeutic pathways. Our laboratory has made a significant contribution in recent years to identifying enteric glial cells (EGC) as a key new component of the IEB microenvironment, enhancing IEB protection and healing. Conversely, in IBD patients, EGC are altered both phenotypically and functionally. In this context, in addition to a better understanding of physiopathological mechanisms, the aim of this project was to identify EGC as a new therapeutic target in IBD. Using a lipidomic analysis, we have demonstrated the underproduction of various lipid mediators by the EGC from IBD patients. Among them, 15-HETE and PGI2 were able to regulate the permeability of the IEB, both in vitro and in vivo. In addition, they appeared to be able to restore functions lost in IBD patients. Thus, our work suggests that underproduction of these lipid mediators by EGC from IBD patients could contribute to pathophysiological mechanisms and represent a new major therapeutic target.

Inhibition of cyclooxygenase (COX)-2 increases cardiovascular deaths. Identifying a biomarker of COX-2 is desirable but difficult, since COX-1 and COX-2 ordinarily catalyze formation of an identical product, prostaglandin H2. When acetylated by aspirin, however, COX-2 (but not COX-1) can form 15(R)-HETE, which is metabolized to aspirin-triggered lipoxin (ATL), 15-epi-lipoxin A4. Here we have used COX-1- and COX-2-knockout mice to establish whether plasma ATL could be used as a biomarker of vascular COX-2 in vivo. Vascular COX-2 was low but increased by LPS (10 mg/kg; i.p). Aspirin (10 mg/kg; i.v.) inhibited COX-1, measured as blood thromboxane and COX-2, measured as lung PGE2. Aspirin also increased the levels of ATL in the lungs of LPS-treated wild-type C57Bl6 mice (vehicle: 25.5±9.3 ng/ml; 100 mg/kg: 112.0±7.4 ng/ml; P<0.05). Despite this, ATL was unchanged in plasma after LPS and aspirin. This was true in wild-type as well as COX-1−/− and COX-2−/− mice. Thus, in mice in which COX-2 has been induced by LPS treatment, aspirin triggers detectable 15-epi-lipoxin A4 in lung tissue, but not in plasma. This important study is the first to demonstrate that while ATL can be measured in tissue, plasma ATL is not a biomarker of vascular COX-2 expression.—Kirkby, N. S., Chan, M. V., Lundberg, M. H., Massey, K. A., Edmands, W. M. B., MacKenzie, L. S., Holmes, E., Nicolaou, A., Warner, T. D., Mitchell, J. A. Aspirin-triggered 15-epi-lipoxin A4 predicts cyclooxygenase-2 in the lungs of LPS-treated mice but not in the circulation: implications for a clinical test.

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