Verdiperstat attenuates acute lung injury by modulating MPO/μ-calpain/β-catenin signaling

Verdiperstat, a myeloperoxidase (MPO) inhibitor, is a well-known drug used for the treatment of multisystem atrophy. However, its therapeutic effect on acute lung injury (ALI) remains to be elucidated. In this study, the effect of verdiperstat on lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced two-hit rat ALI model was studied in vivo. Subsequently, to explore the anti-ALI mechanism of verdiperstat, an LPS-induced injury in human pulmonary microvascular endothelial cells (HMs) was studied in vitro. The continuous administration of verdiperstat at 120 mg/kg for 3 days exerted a protective effect on the LPS-induced two-hit rat ALI model, as reflected by the change in the lung coefficient and lung pathology scores from 0.72 to 0.61 and 6.08 to 4.37, respectively. Furthermore, the values of protective adhesion protein VE-cadherin and tight junction protein claudin 5 changed from 0.42 to 0.97 and 0.25 to 0.72, but MPO, the ratio of N-μ-calpain to μ-calpain, and the distribution of β-catenin in the nucleus changed from 3.04 to 2.17, 0.62 to 0.38 and 2.25 to 0.76, respectively. LPS-induced HMs in vitro also showed similar results, including lower MPO and the distribution of β-catenin in the nucleus, but higher VE-cadherin claudin 5 and N-μ-calpain. Moreover, MPO inhibition resulted in lower μ-calpain activation and lower β-catenin in the nucleus. Our cumulative results suggest that verdiperstat alleviates ALI by strengthening VE-cadherin and claudin 5 through the inhibition of MPO/μ-calpain/β-catenin activation.