In vitro assessment of the direct effect of laquinimod on basic functions of human neural stem cells and oligodendrocyte progenitor cells

Laquinimod is an orally active immunomodulatory small molecule that has shown clear clinical benefit in trials for relapsing-remitting multiple sclerosis and in experimental rodent models that emulate multiple sclerosis (MS). Studies in healthy mice, and in mice with experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis, have demonstrated that laquinimod is capable of entering the central nervous system. It is therefore important to determine if laquinimod is capable of a direct influence on basic functions of neural stem cells (NSC) or oligodendrocyte progenitor cells (OPC)-cells critical for myelin repair in MS. In order to address this question, a series of experiments was conducted to determine the effect of exogenous laquinimod on viability, proliferation, migration and differentiation of human NSC and OPC in vitro. These data show, for the first time in cells of human origin, that direct, short-term interaction between laquinimod and NSC or OPC, in an isolated in vitro setting, is not detrimental to the basic cellular function of these cells.