RNA sequencing reveals resistance of TLR4 ligand-activated microglial cells to inflammation mediated by the selective jumonji H3K27 demethylase inhibitor

Persistent microglial activation is associated with the production and secretion of various pro-inflammatory genes, cytokines and chemokines, which may initiate or amplify neurodegenerative diseases. A novel synthetic histone 3 lysine 27 (H3K27) demethylase JMJD3 inhibitor, GSK-J4, was proven to exert immunosuppressive activities in macrophages. However, a genome-wide search for GSK-J4 molecular targets has not been undertaken in microglia. To study the immuno-modulatory effects of GSK-J4 at the transcriptomic level, triplicate RNA sequencing and quantitative real-time PCR analyses were performed with resting, GSK-J4-, LPS- and LPS + GSK-J4-challenged primary microglial (PM) and BV-2 microglial cells. Among the annotated genes, the transcriptional sequencing of microglia that were treated with GSK-J4 revealed a selective effect on LPS-induced gene expression, in which the induction of cytokines/chemokines, interferon-stimulated genes, and prominent transcription factors TFs, as well as previously unidentified genes that are important in inflammation was suppressed. Furthermore, we showed that GSK-J4 controls are important inflammatory gene targets by modulating STAT1, IRF7, and H3K27me3 levels at their promoter sites. These unprecedented results demonstrate that the histone demethylase inhibitor GSK-J4 could have therapeutic applications for neuroinflammatory diseases.