Selpercatinib attenuates bleomycin-induced pulmonary fibrosis by inhibiting the TGF-β1 signaling pathway

• Published in: Biochemical pharmacology 2024-07, Vol.225, p.116282, Article 116282
• Main Authors: Li, Shimeng, Liu, Zhichao, Jiao, Xiaodan, Gu, Jinying, Liu, Zhigang, Meng, Lingxin, Li, Wenqi, Zhang, Tiantian, Liu, Jing, Chai, Dan, Liu, Jiaai, Yang, Zhongyi, Liu, Yuming, Jiao, Ran, Li, Xiaohe, Zhou, Honggang, Zhang, Yanping
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: Animals; Bleomycin - toxicity; Epithelial-Mesenchymal Transition - drug effects; Fibroblasts; Fibroblasts - drug effects; Fibroblasts - metabolism; Humans; Idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis; Male; Mice; Mice, Inbred C57BL; Pulmonary epithelial cells; Pulmonary Fibrosis - chemically induced; Pulmonary Fibrosis - drug therapy; Pulmonary Fibrosis - metabolism; Pulmonary Fibrosis - pathology; Pulmonary Fibrosis - prevention & control; Pyrazoles - pharmacology; Pyrazoles - therapeutic use; Pyridines - pharmacology; Selpercatinib; Signal Transduction - drug effects; TGF-β1; Transforming Growth Factor beta1 - metabolism
• ISSN: 0006-2952; 1873-2968; 1873-2968
• DOI: 10.1016/j.bcp.2024.116282

[Display omitted] IPF is a chronic, progressive, interstitial lung disease with high mortality. Current drugs have limited efficacy in curbing disease progression and improving quality of life. Selpercatinib, a highly selective inhibitor of receptor tyrosine kinase RET (rearranged during transfection), was approved in 2020 for the treatment of a variety of solid tumors with RET mutations. In this study, the action and mechanism of Selpercatinib in pulmonary fibrosis were evaluated in vivo and in vitro. In vivo experiments demonstrated that Selpercatinib significantly ameliorated bleomycin (BLM)-induced pulmonary fibrosis in mice. In vitro, Selpercatinib inhibited the proliferation, migration, activation and extracellular matrix deposition of fibroblasts by inhibiting TGF-β1/Smad and TGF-β1/non-Smad pathway, and suppressed epithelial-mesenchymal transition (EMT) like process of lung epithelial cells via inhibiting TGF-β1/Smad pathway. The results of in vivo pharmacological tests corroborated the results obtained from the in vitro experiments. Further studies revealed that Selpercatinib inhibited abnormal phenotypes of lung fibroblasts and epithelial cells in part by regulating its target RET. In short, Selpercatinib inhibited the activation of fibroblasts and EMT-like process of lung epithelial cells by inhibiting TGF-β1/Smad and TGF-β1/non-Smad pathways, thus alleviating BLM-induced pulmonary fibrosis in mice.