Cell-based biological evaluations of 5-(3-bromo-4-phenethoxybenzylidene)thiazolidine-2,4-dione as promising wound healing agent

Recent studies have focused on prostaglandin E2 (PGE2) because PGE2 regulates vertebrate hematopoietic stem cell induction and engraftment. PGE2 acts through EP2 and EP4 receptors to mediate regeneration and hematopoietic stem cell (HSC) development via the Wnt signaling pathway. Previously we reported that inhibitors of 15-PGDH can control the intracellular levels of PGE2. Therefore, we developed new potent 15-PGDH inhibitor, 5-(3-bromo-4-phenethoxybenzylidene)thiazolidine-2,4-dione (TD191), with an IC50 of 4 nM and tested cell-based wound healing effects. This compound significantly increased the level of PGE2 (451 pg/mL) in A549 cells, which was about 7-fold higher than that of control. HaCaT cells exposed to TD191 showed significantly improved wound healing after 48 h in scratch wound healing test, whereas treatment of TD191 to the fibroblast Hs27 cells slightly decreased cell growth compared with control. SCL is a basic helix-loop-helix transcription factor that is an essential for HSC development. By qPCR, SCL expression in HaCaT cells was 2-fold enhanced after addition of TD191, while treatment of TD191 into fibroblast Hs27 cells was not significantly changed the expression levels of the gene. This data provides in vitro evidence that TD191 may have utility for the therapeutic management of wound healing without scar formation.

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