Artemisinin derivative TPN10466 suppresses immune cell migration and Th1/Th17 differentiation to ameliorate disease severity in experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis

Multiple sclerosis (MS) was one of the major conditions causing neurological dysfunction and was an incurable progressive central nervous system disease. Experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) was the most commonly used experimental model of MS. Artemisinin have been shown to exhibit anti-inflammatory effects through unclear mechanisms. In this study, we aimed to evaluate the effect of administration of the artemisinin derivative TPN10466 in EAE. TPN10466 alleviated the severity of disease in EAE. Further studies showed that TPN10466 inhibited lymphocyte migration by downregulating chemokine expression and adhesion molecules. In addition, studies showed that TPN10466 directly inhibited Th1 and Th17 differentiation and reduced Th1 and Th17 infiltration into the central nervous system. In conclusion, our work demonstrated that TPN10466 provided protection against the autoimmune disease EAE by inhibiting the migration of immune cells and suppressing Th1/Th17 differentiation, suggesting that TPN10466 could be a potential for promising potential agent for the treatment of MS/EAE.