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The p38/MK2 pathway regulates a wide range of biological functions, and thus has most been explored as a therapeutic target for inhibition of severe and chronic inflammatory diseases. Till date, several p38 inhibitors with potent anti-inflammatory effects in pre-clinical models have been discovered, but most of them have failed in clinics due to serious systemic toxicity issues.

MK2 is a serine-threonine kinase downstream to p38 and is activated directly through phosphorylation of p38 under stress and inflammatory stimulus. MK2 has been shown to be a direct and essential component in regulating the biosynthesis of pro-inflammatory cytokines. Disruption of MK2 signaling leads to a significant reduction in the level of several pro-inflammatory cytokine production. For these reasons, MK2 has been identified as an alternate molecular target in order to block the pathway with an assumption that this …