Immunosuppressant FTY720 inhibits thymocyte emigration

Chemorepulsion and thymocyte emigration.

The possibility that chemorepulsion, or cell migration away from a stimulus, plays a role in the immune system is exciting from both clinical and cellbiological viewpoints. For the clinician, what could be a more satisfying way to treat a cell-mediated immune disease than local application of a chemorepellent? For the cell biologist, eukaryotic cell chemorepulsion represents a novel behavior to...

The immunosuppressant drug FTY720 inhibits cytosolic phospholipase A2 independently of sphingosine-1-phosphate receptors.

FTY720 is a potent immunomodulator drug that inhibits the egress of lymphocytes from secondary lymphoid tissues and thymus. FTY720 is phosphorylated in vivo by sphingosine kinase 2 to FTY720-phosphate, which acts as a potent sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P) receptor agonist. However, in contrast to S1P, FTY720 has no effect on mast-cell degranulation, yet significantly reduces antigen-induced secr...

Therapy of autoimmune diseases by novel immunosuppressant FTY720

The Immunosuppressant FTY720 (Fingolimod) enhances Glycosaminoglycan depletion in articular cartilage

BACKGROUND FTY720 (Fingolimod) is a novel immunosuppressive drug investigated in clinical trials for organ transplantation and multiple sclerosis. It acts as a functional sphingosine-1-phosphate (S1P) receptor antagonist, thereby inhibiting the egress of lymphocytes from secondary lymphoid organs. As S1P is able to prevent IL-1beta induced cartilage degradation, we examined the direct impact of...

Antigen challenge inhibits thymic emigration.

T cell development in the thymus involves a series of TCR-mediated control points including TCR-beta selection and positive and negative selection. Approximately half of the thymic sojourn is spent in the medulla, where thymocytes undergo final maturation before emigrating to the periphery. Although it is acknowledged that thymic emigration is an active process, relatively little is known about...