MMI 0100 is a cell-permeable peptide inhibitor of mitogen activated protein kinase-activated protein kinase 2 (MK2). YARAAARQARA, also known as PDT-4, is the fragment that confers cell permeability and it also provides more selectivity to inhibit MK2. MK2 is activated by the MAP kinases p38alpha and p38beta, which in turn are activated by environmental stresses including heat shock, hypoosmolarity, hypoxia and inflammatory cytokines, and inhibition of MK2 may be beneficial in multiple human diseases including neuroinflammation, cancer, neural ischemia, rheumatoid arthritis, and inflammatory bowel disease. Neuroinflammation is considered a causative agent in Alzheimers disease (AD) and accordingly, in mouse models of AD, MMI 0100 ameliorates the memory deficit induced by Abeta142 or lipopolysaccharide in novel object and location tasks. Similarly, in models of acute colitis induced by dextran sodium sulfate (DSS), MMI 0100 attenuates DSS-induced body weight loss, colon length shortening, and colonic pathological injury.
