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The helminth product ES-62 protects against septic shock via Toll-like receptor 4–dependent autophagosomal degradation of the adaptor MyD88

Nature Immunology volume 12, pages 344–351 (2011)Cite this article

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A Retraction to this article was published on 19 July 2011

This article has been updated

Abstract

Sepsis is one of the most challenging health problems worldwide. Here we found that phagocytes from patients with sepsis had considerable upregulation of Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) and TLR2; however, shock-inducing inflammatory responses mediated by these TLRs were inhibited by ES-62, an immunomodulator secreted by the filarial nematode Acanthocheilonema viteae. ES-62 subverted TLR4 signaling to block TLR2- and TLR4-driven inflammatory responses via autophagosome-mediated downregulation of the TLR adaptor-transducer MyD88. In vivo, ES-62 protected mice against endotoxic and polymicrobial septic shock by TLR4-mediated induction of autophagy and was protective even when administered after the induction of sepsis. Given that the treatments for septic shock at present are inadequate, the autophagy-dependent mechanism of action by ES-62 might form the basis for urgently needed therapeutic intervention against this life-threatening condition.

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Figure 1: Effects of ES-62 on human macrophages.
Figure 2: Effect of ES-62 on phagocytes from patients with sepsis.
Figure 3: ES-62 targets TLR4 and MyD88 to early and late endosomes.
Figure 4: ES-62 induces autophagosome formation.
Figure 5: ES-62 protects against endotoxic shock.
Figure 6: ES-62 protects against polymicrobial sepsis.
Figure 7: ES-62 protects via autophagy in vivo.
Figure 8: Therapeutic role for ES-62 in polymicrobial sepsis.

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Change history

  • 24 June 2011

    The authors wish to note the following. Irregularities have been identified in some of the figures in this paper. The conclusions drawn from these data, that ES-62 protects against the development of pathology in the sepsis models and results in the induction of autophagy in macrophages, cannot be made. As these conclusions constitute major components of the paper, we wish to retract this paper.

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Acknowledgements

Supported by the Medical Research Council UK (G0700794), the Biomedical Research Council of Singapore, the Wellcome Trust, the Biotechnology and Biological Sciences Research Council UK and the American Asthma Foundation.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Department of Physiology, National University of Singapore, Singapore

    Padmam Puneet, Shazib Pervaiz & Alirio J Melendez

  2. Department of Molecular & Clinical Pharmacology, Institute of Translational Medicine, Medical Research Council Centre for Drug Safety Studies, University of Liverpool, Liverpool, UK

    Padmam Puneet & Alirio J Melendez

  3. Institute of Infection, Immunity and Inflammation, Glasgow Biomedical Research Centre, University of Glasgow, Glasgow, UK

    Mairi A McGrath, Hwee Kee Tay & Margaret M Harnett

  4. Strathclyde Institute of Pharmacy and Biomedical Sciences, University of Strathclyde, Glasgow, UK

    Lamyaa Al-Riyami, Justyna Rzepecka & William Harnett

  5. Defence Medical and Environmental Research Institute, DSO National Laboratories, Singapore

    Shabbir M Moochhala

  6. NUS Graduate School for Integrative Sciences and Engineering, National University of Singapore, Cancer and Stem Cell Biology Program, Duke-NUS Graduate Medical School and Singapore-MIT Alliance, Singapore

    Shazib Pervaiz

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Contributions

P.P., M.A.M., H.K.T., L.A.-R. and J.R. did experiments; S.M.M. supplied reagents; A.J.M. conceived of the study; A.J.M., M.M.H., S.P. and W.H. planned the experiments, supervised the study and wrote the paper; and all authors analyzed data.

Corresponding author

Correspondence to Alirio J Melendez.

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Puneet, P., McGrath, M., Tay, H. et al. The helminth product ES-62 protects against septic shock via Toll-like receptor 4–dependent autophagosomal degradation of the adaptor MyD88. Nat Immunol 12, 344–351 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1038/ni.2004

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