Biological and Pharmaceutical Bulletin
Online ISSN : 1347-5215
Print ISSN : 0918-6158
ISSN-L : 0918-6158
Regular Article
Structure–Activity Relationship Analysis of Fluoxetine for Suppression of Inflammatory Cytokine Production
Yohei TakenakaRyu TanakaKazuki KitabatakeFumiaki UchiumiShin AokiKouji KuramochiMitsutoshi Tsukimoto
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2024 Volume 47 Issue 5 Pages 946-954

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Abstract

There is accumulating evidence that selective serotonin reuptake inhibitors (SSRIs), clinically used as antidepressants, have a beneficial effect on inflammatory diseases such as coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19). We previously compared the inhibitory effects of five U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA)-approved SSRIs on the production of an inflammatory cytokine, interleukin-6 (IL-6), and concluded that fluoxetine (FLX) showed the most potent anti-inflammatory activity. Here, we investigated the structure–activity relationship of FLX for anti-inflammatory activity towards J774.1 murine macrophages. FLX suppressed IL-6 production induced by the TLR3 agonist polyinosinic-polycytidylic acid (poly(I : C)) with an IC50 of 4.76 µM. A derivative of FLX containing chlorine instead of the methylamino group lacked activity, suggesting that the methylamino group is important for the anti-inflammatory activity. FLX derivatives bearing an N-propyl or N-(pyridin-3-yl)methyl group in place of the N-methyl group exhibited almost the same activity as FLX. Other derivatives showed weaker activity, and the N-phenyl and N-(4-trifluoromethyl)benzyl derivatives were inactive. The chlorine-containing derivative also lacked inhibitory activity against TLR9- or TLR4-mediated IL-6 production. These derivatives showed similar structure–activity relationships for TLR3- and TLR9-mediated inflammatory responses. However, the activities of all amino group-containing derivatives against the TLR4-mediated inflammatory response were equal to or higher than the activity of FLX. These results indicate that the substituent at the nitrogen atom in FLX strongly influences the anti-inflammatory effect.

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© 2024 Author(s) This is an open access article distributed under the terms of Creative Commons Attribution 4.0 License (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/). Published by The Pharmaceutical Society of Japan

This article is licensed under a Creative Commons [Attribution-NonCommercial 4.0 International] license.
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