Elucidating the Role of SYK in the Intestinal Epithelium
Authors: Natu Amogh , Raught Brian , Muise Aleixo 
Published: May 2024

Background: Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD) involves chronic and recurring inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract. We identified several patients presenting with immune dysregulation and systemic inflammation, including inflammation of the gut. Analysis of Whole Exome Sequencing data from pediatric IBD patients has identified five rare protein coding Spleen Tyrosine Kinase (SYK) variants. Functional studies have demonstrated increased kinase activity implicating them in disease pathophysiology. While the role of SYK is well characterized in immune cells, it is not understood what role it plays in the intestinal epithelium. Aims: The primary aim of this project is to understand the role SYK plays in the intestinal epithelium, what molecular pathways it signals through, and how its dysregulation leads to intestinal disease. Methods: To understand SYKs role in the intestinal epithelium, a BioID screen was used to identify novel SYK interacting proteins. BioID was done with wild type SYK as well as the patient derived variants in HEK293 cells. BioID hits were validated using co-immunoprecipitation (CoIP) and proximity ligation assay (PLA). Further functional analysis was done in Caco2 cells, an intestinal epithelial cell model, with western blot, ELISA, and luciferase assays to assess the effect of SYK activity on downstream inflammatory pathways. Finally, we investigated the effect of small molecule kinase inhibitors to explore possible novel treatment options. Results: The BioID screen revealed several high confidence interactors, with dysregulated interactions in the patient variants. USP25, a ubiquitin specific peptidase that is widely expressed, including in the intestinal epithelium, was identified as one of the strongest hits based on peptide counts. The interaction was validated with CoIP and PLA, and further analysis showed SYK activation decreased USP25 protein levels by up to eight-fold. The secretion of the proinflammatory chemokine, IL-8, in response to lipopolysaccharide (LPS) was found to be almost twice as high in Caco2 cells with patient SYK variants relative to WT. Cells expressing the patient variants of SYK showed increased NFkB and AP1 levels, indicating increased inflammatory gene expression when stimulated with 100ng/mL LPS. NFkB was also active for longer in cells expressing the patient variant of SYK post stimulation, with WT cells returning to baseline in under half an hour, while the patient variant stayed in an inflamed state for 36 to 48 hours after LPS was removed. Conclusions: Increased SYK activity is associated with the degradation of USP25. USP25 is known to cleave ubiquitin off TNF receptor associated factors (TRAFs). TRAFs are activated downstream of innate immune receptors such as TLR4, and need to be ubiquitinated for activation. USP25, which is responsible for the deubiquitination of these TRAFs, acts as a negative regulator of these pathways. The hyperactive SYK variants degrade USP25 and impair the cells’ ability to switch off inflammatory signaling pathways, indicated by the cells elongated period in an inflamed state. This research is funded by grants from Canadian Institute for Health Research (CIHR) and the Leona M. and Harry B. Helmsley Charitable Trust. This is the full abstract presented at the American Physiology Summit 2024 meeting and is only available in HTML format. There are no additional versions or additional content available for this abstract. Physiology was not involved in the peer review process.