Preventing acute gut wall damage in infectious diarrhoeas with glycosylated dendrimers

Intestinal pathogens use the host's excessive inflammatory cytokine response, designed to eliminate dangerous bacteria, to disrupt epithelial gut wall integrity and promote their tissue invasion. We sought to develop a non‐antibiotic‐based approach to prevent this injury. Molecular docking studies suggested that glycosylated dendrimers block the TLR4‐MD‐2‐LPS complex, and a 13.6 kDa polyamidoamine (PAMAM) dendrimer glucosamine (DG) reduced the induction of human monocyte interleukin (IL)‐6 by Gram‐negative bacteria. In a rabbit model of shigellosis, PAMAM‐DG prevented epithelial gut wall damage and intestinal villous destruction, reduced local IL‐6 and IL‐8 expression, and minimized bacterial invasion. Computational modelling studies identified a 3.3 kDa polypropyletherimine (PETIM)‐DG as the smallest likely bioactive molecule. In human monocytes, high purity PETIM‐DG potently inhibited Shigella Lipid A‐induced IL‐6 expression. In rabbits, PETIM‐DG prevented Shigella ‐induced epithelial gut wall damage, reduced local IL‐6 and IL‐8 expression, and minimized bacterial invasion. There was no change in β‐defensin, IL‐10, interferon‐β, transforming growth factor‐β, CD3 or FoxP3 expression. Small and orally delivered DG could be useful for preventing gut wall tissue damage in a wide spectrum of infectious diarrhoeal diseases. –>See accompanying article http://dx.doi.org/10.1002/emmm.201201668