CFTR inhibition provokes an inflammatory response associated with an imbalance of the annexin A1 pathway.

Cystic fibrosis (CF), a disease caused by mutations in the CF transmembrane conductance regulator (CFTR) gene, is characterized by chronic bacterial infections and inflammation in the lung. Having previously shown that deletion of CFTR is associated with lower expression of the endogenous anti-inflammatory protein Annexin A1 (AnxA1), we investigated further this possible functional connection using a validated CFTR inhibitor. Treatment of mice with the CFTR inhibitor-172 (CFTR172) augmented the acute peritonitis promoted by zymosan, an effect associated with lower AnxA1 levels in peritoneal cells. Similar results were obtained with another, chemically distinct, CFTR inhibitor. The pro-inflammatory effect of CFTR172 was lost in AnxA1−/−, as well as CFTR−/− mice. Importantly, administration of hrAnxA1 and its peptido-mimetic to CFTR−/− animals or to animals treated with CFTR172 corrected the exaggerated leukocyte migration seen in these animals. In vitro assays with human Polymorphonuclear leukocyte (PMN) demonstrated that CFTR172 reduced cell-associated AnxA1 by promoting release of the protein in microparticles. We propose that the reduced impact of the counterregulatory properties of AnxA1 in CF cells contributes to the inflammatory phenotype characteristic of this disease. Thus, these findings provide an important insight into the mechanism underlying the inflammatory disease associated with CFTR inhibition while, at the same time, providing a novel pharmacological target for controlling the inflammatory phenotype of CF.