Anti-Inflammatory Effect of Dimethyl Fumarate Associates with the Inhibition of Thioredoxin Reductase 1 in RAW 264.7 Cells

Macrophages secrete a variety of pro-inflammatory cytokines in response to pathogen-associated molecular patterns (PAMPs) and damage-associated molecular patterns (DAMPs) but abnormal release of cytokines unfortunately promotes cytokine storms. Dimethyl fumarate (DMF), an FDA-approved drug for multiple sclerosis (MS) treatment, has been found as an effective therapeutic agent for resolution. In this study, the anti-inflammatory effect of DMF was found to correlate to selenoprotein thioredoxin reductase 1 (TXNRD1). DMF irreversibly modified the Sec498 residue and C-terminal catalytic cysteine residues of TXNRD1 in a time- and dose-dependent manner. In LPS-stimulated RAW 264.7 cells, cellular TXNRD activity was increased through up-regulation of the protein level and DMF inhibited TXNRD activity and the nitric oxide (NO) production of RAW 264.7 cells. Meanwhile, the inhibition of TXNRD1 by DMF would contribute to the redox regulation of inflammation and promote the nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (NRF2) activation. Notably, inhibition of cellular TXNRD1 by auranofin or TRi-1 showed anti-inflammatory effect in RAW 264.7 cells. This finding demonstrated that targeting TXNRD1 is a potential mechanism of using immunometabolites for dousing inflammation in response to pathogens and highlights the potential of TXNRD1 inhibitors in immune regulation.