Oral hymecromone decreases hyaluronan in human study participants
Joelle I. Rosser, … , Carlos E. Milla, Paul L. Bollyky
Joelle I. Rosser, … , Carlos E. Milla, Paul L. Bollyky
Published May 2, 2022
Citation Information: J Clin Invest. 2022;132(9):e157983. https://doi.org/10.1172/JCI157983.
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Clinical Research and Public Health Inflammation

Oral hymecromone decreases hyaluronan in human study participants

Abstract

BACKGROUND Hyaluronan (HA), an extracellular matrix glycosaminoglycan, has been implicated in the pathophysiology of COVID-19 infection, pulmonary hypertension, pulmonary fibrosis, and other diseases, but is not targeted by any approved drugs. We asked whether hymecromone (4-methylumbelliferone [4-MU]), an oral drug approved in Europe for biliary spasm treatment that also inhibits HA in vitro and in animal models, could be repurposed as an inhibitor of HA synthesis in humans.METHODS We conducted an open-label, single-center, dose-response study of hymecromone in healthy adults. Subjects received hymecromone at 1200 (n = 8), 2400 (n = 9), or 3600 (n = 9) mg/d divided into 3 doses daily, administered orally for 4 days. We assessed safety and tolerability of hymecromone and analyzed HA, 4-MU, and 4-methylumbelliferyl glucuronide (4-MUG; the main metabolite of 4-MU) concentrations in sputum and serum.RESULTS Hymecromone was well tolerated up to doses of 3600 mg/d. Both sputum and serum drug concentrations increased in a dose-dependent manner, indicating that higher doses lead to greater exposures. Across all dose arms combined, we observed a significant decrease in sputum HA from baseline after 4 days of treatment. We also observed a decrease in serum HA. Additionally, higher baseline sputum HA levels were associated with a greater decrease in sputum HA.CONCLUSION After 4 days of exposure to oral hymecromone, healthy human subjects experienced a significant reduction in sputum HA levels, indicating this oral therapy may have potential in pulmonary diseases where HA is implicated in pathogenesis.TRIAL REGISTRATION ClinicalTrials.gov NCT02780752.FUNDING Stanford Medicine Catalyst, Stanford SPARK, Stanford Innovative Medicines Accelerator program, NIH training grants 5T32AI052073-14 and T32HL129970.

Authors

Joelle I. Rosser, Nadine Nagy, Riya Goel, Gernot Kaber, Sally Demirdjian, Jamie Saxena, Jennifer B. Bollyky, Adam R. Frymoyer, Ana E. Pacheco-Navarro, Elizabeth B. Burgener, Jayakumar Rajadas, Zhe Wang, Olga Arbach, Colleen E. Dunn, Anissa Kalinowski, Carlos E. Milla, Paul L. Bollyky

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Figure 2

Sputum HA decreases after treatment with 4-MU.

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Sputum HA decreases after treatment with 4-MU. (A) Sputum 4-MU levels de...
(A) Sputum 4-MU levels demonstrated a stepwise increase with increasing dose. One extreme outlier in the 2400 mg arm was removed from this graph. (B) Sputum 4-MUG levels demonstrated a dose-dependent increase. (C) Mean sputum HA decreased across all 3 arms. The change was statistically significant in the 1200 mg and 3600 mg arms. (D) Higher baseline sputum HA levels showed a greater response to treatment. *P < 0.05, difference from baseline to day 4 of treatment by paired t test; #P < 0.05, difference between dose arms by unpaired t test. The dashed line indicates the baseline reference level. In all panels, n = 8, n = 9, and n = 9 for the 1200 mg, 2400 mg, and 3600 mg arms, respectively. Each boxplot represents the median, interquartile range, 1.5 times the interquartile range, and data points outlying the whisker range.