Tong Li, Nanjundaiah Siddaraju M, Venkatesha Shivaprasad H, Astry Brian, Yu Hua, Moudgil Kamal D
Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21201, USA; School of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Southern Medical University, Guangzhou 510510, China.
Department of Microbiology and Immunology, University of Maryland School of Medicine, Baltimore, MD 21201, USA.
Clin Immunol. 2014 Dec;155(2):220-30. doi: 10.1016/j.clim.2014.09.014. Epub 2014 Oct 13.
Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic autoimmune disorder affecting the synovial joints. The currently available drugs for RA are effective only in a proportion of patients and their prolonged use is associated with severe adverse effects. Thus, new anti-arthritic agents are being sought. We tested Pristimerin, a naturally occurring triterpenoid, for its therapeutic activity against rat adjuvant arthritis. Pristimerin effectively inhibited both arthritic inflammation and cartilage and bone damage in the joints. Pristimerin-treated rats exhibited a reduction in the pro-inflammatory cytokines (IL-6, IL-17, IL-18, and IL-23) and the IL-6/IL-17-associated transcription factors (pSTAT3 and ROR-γt), coupled with an increase in the immunomodulatory cytokine IL-10. Also increased was IFN-γ, which can inhibit IL-17 response. In addition, the Th17/Treg ratio was altered in favor of immune suppression and the RANKL/OPG ratio was skewed towards anti-osteoclastogenesis. This is the first report on testing Pristimerin in arthritis. We suggest further evaluation of Pristimerin in RA patients.
类风湿性关节炎（RA）是一种影响滑膜关节的慢性自身免疫性疾病。目前用于治疗RA的药物仅对部分患者有效，且长期使用会产生严重的不良反应。因此，人们正在寻找新的抗关节炎药物。我们测试了天然存在的三萜类化合物扁蒴藤素对大鼠佐剂性关节炎的治疗活性。扁蒴藤素有效地抑制了关节中的关节炎炎症以及软骨和骨损伤。经扁蒴藤素治疗的大鼠体内促炎细胞因子（IL-6、IL-17、IL-18和IL-23）以及IL-6/IL-17相关转录因子（pSTAT3和ROR-γt）减少，同时免疫调节细胞因子IL-10增加。此外，可抑制IL-17反应的IFN-γ也增加。此外，Th17/Treg比值发生改变，有利于免疫抑制，且RANKL/OPG比值偏向抗破骨细胞生成。这是关于扁蒴藤素在关节炎中测试的首次报告。我们建议对RA患者进一步评估扁蒴藤素。
