Department of Orthopedic Surgery, Beijing Friendship Hospital, Capital Medical University, Beijing, People's Republic of China.
IUBMB Life. 2014 Dec;66(12):854-9. doi: 10.1002/iub.1338. Epub 2014 Dec 25.
Both pro-inflammatory cytokines and anti-inflammatory cytokines generated by chondrocytes play essential roles in the process of Rheumatoid arthritis and osteoarthritis (OA). Bornyl acetate is the main volatile constituent in numerous conifer oils and some Chinese traditional herbs, which has displayed an anti-inflammatory effect before. In this study, we found that bornyl acetate elevates the expression of IL-11 at both the mRNA and protein levels. Interestingly, our results indicated that IL-1β-mediated up-regulation of IL-6, IL-8, MMP-1, and MMP-13 was significantly compromised by IL-11 co-treatment on mRNA levels and protein levels. The antagonistic effects of bornyl acetate on IL-1β induced targets MMP-1 and MMP-13 were diminished by IL-11 knockdown. Mechanistically, our results indicated that bornyl acetate significantly elevates the expression of AP-1 component c-fos, which may influence gross AP-1 activity and initial the transcription of IL-11. Indeed, expression of IL-11 was reversed upon c-fos knockdown. Our results suggest the therapeutic potentials of bornyl acetate in patients with OA.
软骨细胞产生的促炎细胞因子和抗炎细胞因子在类风湿关节炎和骨关节炎（OA）的发病过程中都起着至关重要的作用。乙酸龙脑酯是许多针叶树油和一些中国传统草药中的主要挥发性成分，它以前已经表现出抗炎作用。在这项研究中，我们发现乙酸龙脑酯在 mRNA 和蛋白质水平上均能上调 IL-11 的表达。有趣的是，我们的结果表明，IL-11 共处理在 mRNA 水平和蛋白水平上显著削弱了 IL-1β 介导的 IL-6、IL-8、MMP-1 和 MMP-13 的上调。IL-11 敲低减弱了乙酸龙脑酯对 IL-1β 诱导的 MMP-1 和 MMP-13 靶标的拮抗作用。从机制上讲，我们的结果表明，乙酸龙脑酯显著上调了 AP-1 成分 c-fos 的表达，这可能影响总体 AP-1 活性并启动 IL-11 的转录。事实上，c-fos 敲低后 IL-11 的表达被逆转。我们的研究结果表明，乙酸龙脑酯在 OA 患者中有治疗潜力。
