Inflammatory Bowel Diseases (IBD) affect over 1.3 million people in North America, and are associated with significant morbidity and mortality. The causes of IBD remain unknown, and chronic medicinal therapy is necessary to manage them. The long term objectives of the proposal are to validate drugs that target the 5- opioid receptor (MOR) as potential therapeutics for IBD, and to determine their mechanisms of action. Preliminary data shows that MOR agonist ameliorates DSS colitis. However, the mechanism of action of DSS- mediated protection remains unknown. Prelminary studies also show MOR-induced IL-22 mRNA expression in vivo. IL-22 is a potent inducer of STAT3 phosphorylation, and other prelminary data shows the MOR agonist induces STAT3 activation in cultured enterocytes. Consequently, we hypothesize that the activation of MOR signaling plays a beneficial role in DSS-induced colitis through an up-regulation of STAT3 signaling in enterocytes. Because both IECs and mononuclear immune cells respond to MOR agonist, and dendritic cells (DCs) produce the STAT3 activating cytokine IL-22, we will use tissue-specific ablation of MOR to dissect the cell compartment(s) necessary for MOR-protective signaling against colonic injury.
The specific aims of this proposal are to: 1) identify the role of IL-22/STAT3 signaling in MOR-mediated cyto-protective function;and 2), identify the cell compartment(s) responsible for the MOR-mediated protective function. The impact and molecular mechanisms of MOR-mediated signaling on IBD will be determined using acute experimental models of intestinal injury (DSS-colitis and ischemia/reperfusion injury) applied to wild-type and tissue-specific, gene-deficient mice. This work will be complemented with a series of molecular and cellular biology studies as well as molecular pharmacology experiments.

Public Health Relevance

Relevance to public health: IBD patients often become non-responsive to their therapies over time, leaving surgery as their only recourse. Consequently, new and better therapies are desperately needed for patients, to both maintain remission and to stave off the associated risks and morbidity of surgery. This work has the potential to bring forward new therapeutic modalities through activation of mu opioid receptor signaling.

Agency
National Institute of Health (NIH)
Institute
National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases (NIDDK)
Type
Individual Predoctoral NRSA for M.D./Ph.D. Fellowships (ADAMHA) (F30)
Project #
5F30DK085906-02
Application #
8226672
Study Section
Special Emphasis Panel (ZDK1-GRB-2 (M1))
Program Officer
Podskalny, Judith M,
Project Start
2011-07-01
Project End
2014-06-30
Budget Start
2012-07-01
Budget End
2013-06-30
Support Year
2
Fiscal Year
2012
Total Cost
$34,248
Indirect Cost
Name
University of North Carolina Chapel Hill
Department
Pharmacology
Type
Schools of Medicine
DUNS #
608195277
City
Chapel Hill
State
NC
Country
United States
Zip Code
27599
Goldsmith, Jason R; Kelly, Maureen; Freeman, Katherine B et al. (2015) Combined restitutive therapy for treatment of immunosuppressive refractory Crohn disease. J Pediatr Gastroenterol Nutr 60:e31-4
Ringel-Kulka, T; Goldsmith, J R; Carroll, I M et al. (2014) Lactobacillus acidophilus NCFM affects colonic mucosal opioid receptor expression in patients with functional abdominal pain - a randomised clinical study. Aliment Pharmacol Ther 40:200-7
Goldsmith, Jason R; Sartor, R Balfour (2014) The role of diet on intestinal microbiota metabolism: downstream impacts on host immune function and health, and therapeutic implications. J Gastroenterol 49:785-98
Goldsmith, Jason R; Cocchiaro, Jordan L; Rawls, John F et al. (2013) Glafenine-induced intestinal injury in zebrafish is ameliorated by ýý-opioid signaling via enhancement of Atf6-dependent cellular stress responses. Dis Model Mech 6:146-59
Goldsmith, Jason R; Perez-Chanona, Ernesto; Yadav, Prem N et al. (2013) Intestinal epithelial cell-derived ýý-opioid signaling protects against ischemia reperfusion injury through PI3K signaling. Am J Pathol 182:776-85
Goldsmith, J R; Jobin, Christian (2012) Think small: zebrafish as a model system of human pathology. J Biomed Biotechnol 2012:817341
Goldsmith, Jason R; Uronis, Joshua M; Jobin, Christian (2011) Mu opioid signaling protects against acute murine intestinal injury in a manner involving Stat3 signaling. Am J Pathol 179:673-83