Vol. 294, Issue 3, 1146-1153, September 2000

Potential Clinical Use of Butyric Acid Derivatives to Induce Antigen-Specific T Cell Inactivation¹

Kathleen M. Gilbert, Rahnuma Wahid, Nuria Portabella Fecher, James P. Freeman and E. Kim Fifer

Departments of Microbiology and Immunology (K.G., R.W.) and Pharmaceutical Sciences (N.P.F., E.K.F.), University of Arkansas for Medical Sciences, Little Rock, Arkansas; and National Center for Toxicological Research, Jefferson, Arkansas (J.P.F.)

Compounds with the capacity to induce antigen-specific unresponsiveness in CD4⁺ T cells can in some clinical situations be more beneficial than general immune suppressants. Newly synthesized ester, ester/amide, and amide derivatives of butyrate with the capacity to induce antigen-specific T cell unresponsiveness in vivo and in vitro were tested here. The ester and ester/amide derivatives of butyrate were shown to block proliferation by interleukin-2-stimulated murine Th1 cells in vitro. A 3-day treatment with these same two derivatives also suppressed a primary antibody response to a thymus-dependent antigen in mice. In addition, even a single injection of the ester derivative of n-butyrate 2-(4-morpholinyl)ethyl butyrate hydrochloride (MEB) on day 2 or 3 after immunization suppressed the generation of memory T cells capable of proliferating to antigen or of promoting a secondary antigen-specific antibody response. MEB also induced antigen-specific unresponsiveness in antigen-activated, but not resting or interleukin-2-activated, T cells in vitro. DNA analysis showed that regardless of when MEB was added to the cultures, it induced the eventual G₁ sequestration of essentially all activated Th1 cells. Because G₁ blockade is associated with Th1 cell anergy, this finding suggests that MEB has the potential to induce anergy in already-activated CD4⁺ T cells. Taken together, the results presented here establish MEB as a novel means of inducing anergy in CD4⁺ T cells both in vitro and in vivo and underscore the likelihood that MEB and/or other butyrate derivatives can be used as immunotherapeutic reagents.