Description
We analyzed publicly available mucosal gene expression data from Crohn''s disease (CD) patients pre- and post-infliximab therapy and found that a series of gene expression signature that remains abnormal even if patients achieve clinical remission. Using CMap approach to discover novel therapeutic target for untreatable mechanism of anti-TNFa mAb therapy, we have identified MEK inhibitor exhibiting negatively-correlated effects on reference signature match infliximab therapy untreatable signature. Our findings provide the rationale for testing MEK inhibitor to identify a novel mechanism of action for CD. Gene expression profile was performed to analyze the gene modulation induced by a highly selective MEK inhibitor, and to evaluate whether it normalized reference residual CD signature in vitro. Overall design: LoVo, a human colorectal cancer cell line, was treated with MEK inhibitor for 24 hours across ten dose response conditions (0.03–1,000 nM), and amplicon sequencing was performed on the Ion Torrent platform. Effects of MEK inhibitor were compared with that of DMSO-treated control. MEK inhibitor (compound 33 in Bioorg. Med. Chem. Lett. 22 (2012) 2411 2414))