TWS119

318, 33

Pmel-1 TCR-transgenic mice and pmel-1 ly5.1 double-transgenic mice and pmel-1 Thy1.1 double-transgenic mice

TWS119 is dissolved in DMSO.

Treatment of a monolayer of P19 cells with 1 uM TWS119 causes 30–40% cells to differentiate specifically into neuronal lineages based on counting of TuJ1 positive cells with correct neuronal morphology (up to 60% neuronal differentiation occurred through the standard EB formation protocol with concomitant TWS119 treatment). TWS119 tightly binds to GSK-3beta (K D = 126 nM) which is quantified by surface plasmon resonance (SPR) and further demonstrates an IC50 of 30 nM. [1] TWS119 is found to potently induces neuronal differentiation in both mouse embryonal carcinoma and ES cells. [2] TWS119 treatment towards hepatic stellate cells (HSC) leads to reduced b-catenin phosphorylation, induces nuclear translocation of b-catenin, elevates glutamine synthetase production, impedes synthesis of smooth muscle actin and Wnt5a, but promotes the expression of glial fibrillary acidic protein, Wnt10b, and paired-like homeodomain transcription factor 2c. [3] TWS119 triggers a rapid accumulation of beta-catenin (mean 6.8 -fo increase by densitometry), augments nuclear protein interaction with oligonucleotide containing the DNA sequences to which Tcf and Lef bind and sharply up-regulates the expression of Tcf7, Lef1 and other Wnt target genes including Jun, Ezd7 (encoding Frizzled-7), Nlk (encoding Nemo-like kinase). TWS119 induces a dose-dependent decrease in T cell-specific killing and IFN-g release associated with the preservation of the ability to produce IL-2. [4] A recent study indicates Wnt signaling is induced in polyclonally activated human T cells by treatment with TWS119. These T cells preserve a native CD45RA(+)CD62L(+) phenotype compared with control-activated T cells that progresses to a CD45RO(+)CD62L(-) effector phenotype and this occurs in a TWS119 dose-dependent manner. TWS119-induced Wnt signaling reduces T cell expansion as a result of a block in cell division, and impairs acquisition of T cell effector function as measured by degranulation and IFN-gamma production in response to T cell activation. The block in T cell division may be attributed to reduced IL-2Ralpha expression in TWS119-treated T cells that lowers their capacity to use autocrine IL-2 for expansion. [5]

Surface Plasmon Resonance (SPR), SPR measurement sare performed on a BIAcore S51 instrument at 25 C in PBS buffer. Relative light units (11, 000–17, 000) of a GSK-3beta-GST fusion protein are immobilized on S series CM5 biosensor chips by EDC [1-ethyl-3-(3-dimethylaminopropyl)carbodiimide] coupling procedures. Briefly, GSK-3betais diluted into mildly acidic buffer (10 mM KAc, pH 5.0) and injected for 7 minutes at concentrations of 20–200 ug/ml onto a sensor chip previously activated by a 7-min incubation with a 1:1 mixture of EDC (0.2 M) and N-hydroxysuccinimide (NHS, 0.05 M). Finally, unreacted sites of the biosensor matrix are blocked by a 7-min injection of ethanolamine (1 M, pH 8.5). Subsequently, TWS119 is injected for 90 seconds at increasing concentrations (0, 2, 4, 8, 16, 32, 62.5, 125, 250, 500, and 1, 000 nM), and dissociation of GSK-3beta-TWS119 complexes is followed for 300 seconds. Evaluation of SPR data is performed by using the S51 evaluation software package. Data from two independent titra experiments performed on four different surfaces are averaged. A 1:1 binding model is assumed for the determination of thermodynamic and kinetic binding constants.

TWS119 is a GSK-3β inhibitor with IC50 of 30 nM in a cell-free assay; capable of inducing neuronal differentiation and may be useful to stem cell biology. GSK-3β inhibition triggers autophagy.