{"id":55275,"date":"2026-02-07T06:44:09","date_gmt":"2026-02-07T05:44:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/inmuno.es\/index.php\/2026\/02\/07\/epicertin-an-engineered-variant-of-cholera-toxin-b-subunit-promotes-survival-and-a-pro-remodeling-macrophage-phenotype-for-mucosal-healing-in-colitis-noel-verjan-garcia\/"},"modified":"2026-02-07T06:44:09","modified_gmt":"2026-02-07T05:44:09","slug":"epicertin-an-engineered-variant-of-cholera-toxin-b-subunit-promotes-survival-and-a-pro-remodeling-macrophage-phenotype-for-mucosal-healing-in-colitis-noel-verjan-garcia","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/inmuno.es\/index.php\/2026\/02\/07\/epicertin-an-engineered-variant-of-cholera-toxin-b-subunit-promotes-survival-and-a-pro-remodeling-macrophage-phenotype-for-mucosal-healing-in-colitis-noel-verjan-garcia\/","title":{"rendered":"EPICERTIN, an engineered variant of cholera toxin B subunit, promotes survival and a pro-remodeling macrophage phenotype for mucosal healing in colitis. Noel Verjan Garcia"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<p><b>Mucosal Immunol<\/b>. 2026 Feb 4:S1933-0219(26)00013-9. doi: 10.1016\/j.mucimm.2026.01.013. Online ahead of print.<\/p>\n<p><b>ABSTRACT<\/b><\/p>\n<p>EPICERTIN, a modified cholera toxin B subunit (CTB), facilitates mucosal healing in preclinical colitis models, but its anti-inflammatory mechanisms remain unclear. Here, we investigated EPICERTIN&#8217;s effects on macrophages. In a dextran sulfate sodium-induced colitis mouse model, oral administration of EPICERTIN reduced neutrophil infiltration and increased CX3CR1 + MHCII<sup>lo\/-<\/sup> (M2-like) over CX3CR1 + MHCII<sup>hi<\/sup> (M1-like) macrophages in the colon lamina propria. This was concurrent with upregulation of colony-stimulating factor 2 (Csf2) and growth factors (Egf, TgfA, Fgf, Pdgf) involved in mucosal remodeling. Similarly, in colon tissue from a human with active colitis, EPICERTIN significantly upregulated CSF2 and tissue repair-associated genes while downregulating proinflammatory genes (IL1B, IL6ST). In vitro, EPICERTIN promoted macrophage survival under serum-free conditions, whereas CTB induced apoptosis in murine RAW264.7 cells, peritoneal macrophages, and human THP-1 cells. Remarkably, EPICERTIN protected macrophages from apoptosis induced by chemical ER-stressors or lipopolysaccharides. Additionally, EPICERTIN downregulated cell surface molecules HLA-DR, CD14, CD80, and CD86 in THP-1 cells and modestly upregulated chemokines and proinflammatory cytokines genes as well as TGFB1 in human PBMC-derived macrophages. In contrast, CTB strongly increased proinflammatory genes and activation markers. These findings indicate that EPICERTIN promotes macrophage homeostasis by inducing a less inflammatory, pro-remodeling phenotype, whereas CTB may trigger activation-induced cell death.<\/p>\n<p>PMID:<a href=\"https:\/\/pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov\/41651223\/?utm_source=SimplePie&amp;utm_medium=rss&amp;utm_content=101299742&amp;ff=20260207004405&amp;v=2.18.0.post22+67771e2\">41651223<\/a> | DOI:<a href=\"https:\/\/doi.org\/10.1016\/j.mucimm.2026.01.013\">10.1016\/j.mucimm.2026.01.013<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Mucosal Immunol. 2026 Feb 4:S1933-0219(26)00013-9. doi: 10.1016\/j.mucimm.2026.01.013. Online ahead of print. ABSTRACT EPICERTIN, a modified cholera toxin B subunit (CTB), facilitates mucosal healing in preclinical colitis models, but its anti-inflammatory mechanisms remain unclear. Here, we investigated EPICERTIN&#8217;s effects on macrophages. In a dextran sulfate sodium-induced colitis mouse model, oral administration of EPICERTIN reduced neutrophil infiltration &#8230; <a title=\"EPICERTIN, an engineered variant of cholera toxin B subunit, promotes survival and a pro-remodeling macrophage phenotype for mucosal healing in colitis. Noel Verjan Garcia\" class=\"read-more\" href=\"https:\/\/inmuno.es\/index.php\/2026\/02\/07\/epicertin-an-engineered-variant-of-cholera-toxin-b-subunit-promotes-survival-and-a-pro-remodeling-macrophage-phenotype-for-mucosal-healing-in-colitis-noel-verjan-garcia\/\" aria-label=\"Read more about EPICERTIN, an engineered variant of cholera toxin B subunit, promotes survival and a pro-remodeling macrophage phenotype for mucosal healing in colitis. Noel Verjan Garcia\">Read more<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[57,42],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-55275","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-mucosal-immunology","category-publicaciones"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/inmuno.es\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55275","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/inmuno.es\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/inmuno.es\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inmuno.es\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inmuno.es\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=55275"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/inmuno.es\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/55275\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/inmuno.es\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=55275"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inmuno.es\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=55275"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/inmuno.es\/index.php\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=55275"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}