Therapeutic potential of arachidonyl trifluromethyl ketone, a cytosolic phospholipaseA₂ IVA specific inhibitor, in cigarette smoke condensate-induced pathological conditions in alveolar type I & II epithelial cells

Cigarette smoke is responsible for multiple disorders and causes almost 10 million annual deaths globally but underlying mechanisms are still underexplored. Continuous exposure of Cigarette smoke condensate (CSC) leads to cytosolic phospholipase A₂ (cPLA₂) mediated high free radicals where cPLA₂s seems to play crucial role in generated various patho-physiological conditions such as chronic inflammation, oxidative stress and cancer. In this view, we assessed the therapeutic potential of arachidonyl trifluromethyl ketone (ATK), a cPLA₂ inhibitor, via pharmacological inhibition of most expressible CSC-induced cPLA₂ group IVA in type-I and type-II alveolar epithelial cells. The In Vitro inhibitory effect of ATK on CSC-induced PLA₂ activity and its cellular role were assessed in terms of cell viability, fluorescein diacetate (FDA) dye uptake assay for membrane integrity, reactive oxygen species (ROS)/reactive nitrogen species (RNS) levels and pro apoptotic as well as anti apoptosis markers via flow cytometry, along with extracellular signal-regulated kinases (ERK) levels using enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). The experimental findings demonstrated that ATK acts as potent inhibitor of cPLA₂ activity and shown its effectiveness as therapeutic agent by significantly mimicking CSC-induced levels of free radicals, primary apoptosis, ratio of pro-apoptotic/apoptotic proteins and levels of ERK whereas protected cells from loss of cell viability and membrane integrity. Thus, this study is an important step towards the opening up of avenues for the applicability of the cPLA₂ isoform specific inhibitors such as ATK for pre-clinical and clinical studies and could be beneficial during smoking-induced lung pathological conditions.