TLR4-directed Molecular Strategies Targeting Skin Photodamage and Carcinogenesis.

Abstract

Exposure to solar ultraviolet (UV) radiation is a causative factor in skin photodamage and carcinogenesis, and inflammatory dysregulation is a key mechanism underlying detrimental effects of acute and chronic UV exposure. The health and economic burden of skin cancer treatment is substantial, creating an increasingly urgent need for the development of improved molecular strategies for photoprotection and photochemoprevention. The role of Toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4) as a key regulator of skin anti-microbial defense, wound healing, and cutaneous tumorigenic inflammation has now been recognized, and recently published evidence suggests that TLR4 represents a novel molecular target for skin photoprotection and cancer photochemoprevention. Specifically, it has been shown that pharmacological and genetic antagonism of TLR4 suppresses UV-induced inflammatory signaling involving the attenuation of cutaneous NF-κB and AP-1 stress signaling observable in vitro and in vivo. A number of TLR4-directed small molecule pharmacological antagonists [including eritoran, (+)-naloxone, ST2825, and resatorvid] have now been identified and are at various stages of preclinical and clinical development for the modulation of dysregulated TLR4-dependent inflammatory signaling.