The plant alkaloid conophylline inhibits matrix formation of fibroblasts

Conophylline is a vinca alkaloid from leaves of the tropical plant Ervatamia microphylla and has been shown to mimic the effect of the growth and differentiation factor activin A on pancreatic progenitor cells. However, whereas activin A stimulates fibrosis of pancreatic stellate cells, conophylline inhibits it, suggesting that this compound may serve as an antifibrotic drug. Here, we investigated the effects of conophylline on human foreskin fibroblasts, especially focusing on extracellular matrix (ECM) proteins. A gene microarray analysis revealed that conophylline remarkably suppressed expression of the gene for hyaluronan synthase 2 (HAS2) and of its antisense RNA, whereas the expression of collagen genes was unaffected. Of note, immunostaining experiments revealed that conophylline substantially inhibits incorporation of versican and collagens into the ECM in cells treated with transforming growth factor β (TGF-β), which promotes collagen synthesis, but not in cells not treated with TGF-β. Moreover, a protein biosynthesis  assay disclosed that conophylline decreases collagen biosynthesis, concomitant with a decrease in total protein biosynthesis, indicating that conophylline-mediated inhibition of fibrosis is not specific to collagen synthesis. Conophylline neither affected TGF-β-induced nuclear translocation of SMAD family member 2/3 (SMAD2/3) nor phosphorylation of SMAD2. However, conophylline substantially inhibited phosphorylation of extracellular signal-regulated kinase 1/2 (ERK1/2), suggesting that conophylline inhibits HAS2 expression via TGF-β-mediated activation of the ERK1/2 pathway. Taken together, our results indicate that conophylline may be a useful inhibitor of ECM formation in fibrosis.