Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
Editorial
. 2022 Feb 11:13:860867.
doi: 10.3389/fimmu.2022.860867. eCollection 2022.

Editorial: Multiple Implications of the Kynurenine Pathway in Inflammatory Diseases: Diagnostic and Therapeutic Applications

Yvette Mándi  1 , Trevor W Stone  2 , Gilles J Guillemin  3 , László Vécsei  4 , Richard O Williams  2
Affiliations
Editorial

Editorial: Multiple Implications of the Kynurenine Pathway in Inflammatory Diseases: Diagnostic and Therapeutic Applications

Yvette Mándi et al. Front Immunol. .
No abstract available

Keywords: AhR; IDO; inflammation; inflammatory diseases; kynurenine; neurological disease.

PubMed Disclaimer

Conflict of interest statement

The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest.

Figures

Figure 1
Figure 1
Kynurenine metabolites and the blood brain barrier (BBB) Skorobogatov et al. Tryptophan (TRP) and kynurenine (KYN), and to a lesser degree 3-hydrox kynurenine (3-HK) are actively transported into the brain over LAT1 transporters. Downstream metabolites of the kynurenine pathway (KP), like quinolinic acid (QUINO) and kynurenic acid (KA), cannot make use of these transporters, but (probably limited) passive diffusion of these metabolites over the BBB is possible. Anthranilic acid AA and 3-hydroxy anthranilic acid (not shown in figure) may equally pass the blood brain barrier through passive diffusion, much like QUINO. In the brain, microglia are responsible for the production of metabolites 3-HK and QUINO, whereas astrocytes produce KA. Peripheral production of these KP metabolites is done by blood immune cells, such as blood monocytes (PBMC) and other organs, including liver and kidney. The gut microbiome, which plays a role in psychiatric illness through the gut-brain axis, also affects KP metabolization.
See this image and copyright information in PMC

Comment on

  • Editorial on the Research Topic Multiple Implications of the Kynurenine Pathway in Inflammatory Diseases: Diagnostic and Therapeutic Applications

References

    1. Lovelace MD, Varney B, Sundaram G, Lennon MJ, Lim CK. Recent Evidence for an Expanded Role of the Kynurenine Pathway of Tryptophan Metabolism in Neurological Diseases. Neuropharmacology (2017) 112:373–88. doi: 10.1016/j.neuropharm.2016.03.024 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Stone TW. Development and Therapeutic Potential of Kynurenic Acid and Kynurenine Derivatives for Neuroprotection. Trends Pharmacol Sci (2000) 21:149–54. doi: 10.1016/S0165-6147(00)01451-6 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Stone TW, Darlington LG. Endogenous Kynurenines as Targets for Drug Discovery and Development. Nat Rev Drug Discov (2002) 1(8):609–20. doi: 10.1038/nrd870 - DOI - PubMed
    1. Mándi Y, Vécsei L. The Kynurenine System and Immunoregulation. J Neural Transm Vienna Austr (2012) 119:197–209. doi: 10.1007/s00702-011-0681-y - DOI - PubMed
    1. Parada-Turska J, Zgrajka W, Majdan M. Kynurenic Acid in Synovial Fluid and Serum of Patients With Rheumatoid Arthritis, Spondyloarthropathy, and Osteoarthritis. J Rheumatol (2013) 40:903–9. doi: 10.3899/jrheum.121035. - DOI - PubMed

Publication types