Differential Effects of Oxytocin Receptor Antagonists, Atosiban and Nolasiban, on Oxytocin Receptor-Mediated Signaling in Human Amnion and Myometrium
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Published version
Author(s)
Type
Journal Article
Abstract
One of the most established roles of oxytocin (OT) is in inducing uterine contractions and labor. Apart from inducing contractions, our recent studies showed that OT can also activate proinflammatory pathways in both human myometrial and amnion cells, which suggests that the proinflammatory role of OT should be taken into account when developing tocolytics targeting the OT/oxytocin receptor (OTR) system. The OTR antagonist, atosiban, is currently used therapeutically for the treatment of preterm labor. We previously showed that atosiban fails to inhibit the proinflammatory effects of OT in human amnion; atosiban alone activates nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) and mitogen activated protein kinases, thus upregulating downstream prolabor genes. In contrast with our findings with atosiban, the presence of the orally active OTR antagonist, nolasiban, reduced the effect of OT on NF-κB and p38 kinase activation in both myometrial and amnion cells. Consistent with the activation of these inflammatory mediators, OT led to increases in the expression of cyclooxygenase-2 and phosphorylated cytosolic phospholipase A2, which was reflected in prostaglandin E2 synthesis. Inhibition of NF-κB activation by nolasiban also translated to suppression of downstream prolabor gene expression, such as cyclooxygenase-2, C-C motif chemokine ligand 2, interleukin-6, and interleukin-8. We also demonstrated that nolasiban treatment alone has no significant stimulatory effect on both the myometrium and amnion. In conclusion, our findings indicate that nolasiban possesses promising potential as a novel tocolytic agent for both acute and maintenance therapy, as it inhibits both myometrial contractions and the proinflammatory effects of OT without the biased agonist effects.
Date Issued
2017-03-09
Date Acceptance
2017-01-30
Citation
MOLECULAR PHARMACOLOGY, 2017, 91 (4), pp.403-415
ISSN
0026-895X
Publisher
American Society for Pharmacology and Experimental Therapeutics (ASPET)
Start Page
403
End Page
415
Journal / Book Title
MOLECULAR PHARMACOLOGY
Volume
91
Issue
4
Copyright Statement
© 2017 The Author(s). This is an open access article distributed under the CC BY-NC Attribution 4.0 International license (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/).
Identifier
http://gateway.webofknowledge.com/gateway/Gateway.cgi?GWVersion=2&SrcApp=PARTNER_APP&SrcAuth=LinksAMR&KeyUT=WOS:000396213600014&DestLinkType=FullRecord&DestApp=ALL_WOS&UsrCustomerID=1ba7043ffcc86c417c072aa74d649202
Subjects
Science & Technology
Life Sciences & Biomedicine
Pharmacology & Pharmacy
INFLAMMATORY PATHWAYS
CEREBRAL-PALSY
IN-VITRO
LABOR
METAANALYSIS
CELLS
Amnion
Chemokine CCL5
Enzyme Activation
Female
Humans
Inflammation Mediators
Labor, Obstetric
Mitogen-Activated Protein Kinases
Models, Biological
Myometrium
NF-kappa B
Oximes
Pregnancy
Prostaglandins
Pyrrolidines
Receptors, Oxytocin
Signal Transduction
Up-Regulation
Vasotocin
1115 Pharmacology And Pharmaceutical Sciences
1109 Neurosciences
Publication Status
Published