705. Dendritic Polyglycerol sulfate reduces inflammation through inhibition of the HMGB1/RAGE axis in RAW 264.7 macrophages
M. Kagelmacher, C. Serrano Quella, E. Kautz, A. Klumpp, F. Weichert, I. Zhang, D. Maysinger, P. G. Wedamulla, S. K. Strauss, T. Risse, R. Haag, M. Pigaleva, J. Dernedde – 2025
High Mobility Group Box 1 (HMGB1) is a central pro-inflammatory mediator re-leased from damaged or stressed cells, where it activates receptors such as the Receptor for Advanced Glycation Endproducts (RAGE). Dendritic polyglycerol sulfate (dPGS), a hy-perbranched polyanionic polymer, is known for its anti-inflammatory activity. In this study, we examined how dPGS modulates HMGB1-driven signaling in RAW 264.7 mac-rophages and human microglia. Recombinant human HMGB1 expressed in Escherichia coli (E. coli) was purified by nickel-nitrilotriacetic acid (Ni-NTA) and heparin chromatography. Proximity ligation assays (PLA) revealed that dPGS significantly disrupted HMGB1/RAGE interactions, particularly under lipopolysaccharide (LPS) stimulation, thereby reducing inflammatory signaling complex formation. This correlated with reduced activation of the nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB) pathway, demonstrated by decreased nu-clear translocation and transcriptional activity. Reverse transcription polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and quantitative real-time PCR (RT-qPCR) showed that dPGS sup-pressed HMGB1- and LPS-induced transcription of tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF-α), interleukin-6 (IL-6), monocyte chemoattractant protein-1 (MCP-1), cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2), and inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS). Enzyme-linked immunosorbent as-say (ELISA) and Griess assays confirmed reduced TNF-α secretion and nitric oxide pro-duction. Electron paramagnetic resonance (EPR) spectroscopy further showed that dPGS altered HMGB1/soluble RAGE (sRAGE) complex dynamics, providing mechanistic insight into its receptor-disruptive action.
