Abstract
Background
Acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) is a form of respiratory failure stemming from various underlying conditions that ultimately lead to inflammation and lung fibrosis. Bromodomain and Extra-Terminal motif (BET) inhibitors are a class of medications that selectively bind to the bromodomains of BET motif proteins, effectively reducing inflammation. However, the use of BET inhibitors in ARDS treatment has not been previously investigated. In our study, we induced ARDS in rats using endotoxin and administered a BET inhibitor. We evaluated the outcomes by examining inflammation markers and lung histopathology.
Results
Nine animals received treatment, while 12 served as controls. In the lung tissue of treated animals, we observed a significant reduction in TNFα levels (549 [149–977] pg/mg vs. 3010 [396–5529] pg/mg; p = 0.009) and IL-1β levels (447 [369–580] pg/mg vs. 662 [523–924] pg/mg; p = 0.012), although IL-6 and IL-10 levels showed no significant differences. In the blood, treated animals exhibited a reduced TNFα level (25 [25–424] pg/ml vs. 900 [285–1744] pg/ml, p = 0.016), but IL-1β levels were significantly higher (1254 [435–2474] pg/ml vs. 384 [213–907] pg/ml, p = 0.049). No differences were observed in IL-6 and IL-10 levels. There were no significant variations in lung tissue levels of TGF-β, SP-D, or RAGE. Histopathological analysis revealed substantial damage, with notably less perivascular edema (3 vs 2; p = 0.0046) and visually more inflammatory cells. However, two semi-quantitative histopathologic scoring systems did not indicate significant differences.
Conclusions
These preliminary findings suggest a potential beneficial effect of BET inhibitors in the treatment of acute lung injury and ARDS. Further validation and replication of these results with a larger cohort of animals, in diverse models, and using different BET inhibitors are needed to explore their clinical implications.
Iten, Manuela