Amlexanox Blocks the Interaction between S100A4 and Epidermal Growth Factor and Inhibits Cell Proliferation

PLoS One. 2016 Aug 25;11(8):e0161663. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0161663. eCollection 2016.

Abstract

The human S100A4 protein binds calcium, resulting in a change in its conformation to promote the interaction with its target protein. Human epidermal growth factor (EGF) is the target protein of S100A4 and a critical ligand of the receptor EGFR. The EGF/EGFR system promotes cell survival, differentiation, and growth by activating several signaling pathways. Amlexanox is an anti-inflammatory and anti-allergic drug that is used to treat recurrent aphthous ulcers. In the present study, we determined that amlexanox interacts with S100A4 using heteronuclear single quantum correlation titration. We elucidated the interactions of S100A4 with EGF and amlexanox using fluorescence and nuclear magnetic resonance spectroscopy. We generated two binary models (for the S100A4-EGF and S100A4-amlexanox complexes) and observed that amlexanox and EGF share a similar binding region in mS100A4. We also used a WST-1 assay to investigate the bioactivity of S100A4, EGF, and amlexanox, and found that amlexanox blocks the binding between S100A4 and EGF, and is therefore useful for the development of new anti-proliferation drugs.

MeSH terms

  • Aminopyridines / pharmacology*
  • Anti-Allergic Agents / pharmacology
  • Anti-Inflammatory Agents / pharmacology
  • Calcium / metabolism
  • Cell Differentiation
  • Cell Proliferation
  • Cell Survival
  • Epidermal Growth Factor / metabolism*
  • Fluorescence
  • Humans
  • Ligands
  • Magnetic Resonance Spectroscopy
  • Molecular Dynamics Simulation
  • Mutation
  • Protein Binding
  • Protein Conformation
  • S100 Calcium-Binding Protein A4 / metabolism*
  • Signal Transduction
  • Trypsin / chemistry

Substances

  • Aminopyridines
  • Anti-Allergic Agents
  • Anti-Inflammatory Agents
  • Ligands
  • S100 Calcium-Binding Protein A4
  • S100A4 protein, human
  • Epidermal Growth Factor
  • amlexanox
  • Trypsin
  • Calcium

Grants and funding

We acknowledge the financial support from the Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) Taiwan (Grant number MOST 103-2113-M-007 -017 -MY3); Ministry of Science and Technology (MOST) Taiwan (Grant number MOST 104-2320-B-039-031), and China Medical University (Grant number CMU104-S-02), Taiwan. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.