The Anti-Inflammatory Effect of Lactose-Modified Hyaluronic Acid Molecules on Primary Bronchial Fibroblasts of Smokers

The progression of smoking-related diseases is characterized by macrophage-mediated inflammation, which is responsible for an increased expression of proinflammatory cytokines and galectins, molecules that bind specifically to β-galactoside sugars. This study aimed to assess the anti-inflammatory and antioxidant effects of a broad selection of differently lactose-modified hyaluronic acids (HA) named HYLACH®, which are able to bind proinflammatory galectins. The best HYLACH ligands for Gal-3 were selected in silico and their activities were tested in vitro on primary human bronchial fibroblasts obtained from smokers and inflamed with the conditioned medium of activated U937 monocytes. Changes in cell viability, ROS generation, proinflammatory mediators, and MMP expression, at both gene and protein levels, were analyzed. The in silico results show that HYLACH with a percentage of lactosylation of 10–40% are the best ligands for Gal-3. The in vitro study revealed that HYLACH compounds with 10, 20, and 40% lactosylation (HYLACH-1-2-3) administrated to inflamed cell cultures counteracted the oxidative damage and restored gene and protein expression for IL-1β, TNF-α, IL-6, Gal-1, Gal-3, and MMP-3 to near baseline values. The evidence that HYLACH attenuated macrophage-induced inflammation, inhibited MMP expression, and exhibited antioxidative effects provide an initial step toward the development of a therapeutic treatment suitable for smoking-related diseases.