Xie Wenyan, Melzig Matthias F
Institute of Pharmacy, Freie Universitaet Berlin, Koenigin-Luise-Str. 2+4, 14195 Berlin, Germany.
Molecules. 2018 Apr 16;23(4):919. doi: 10.3390/molecules23040919.
Herbal medicine is now globally accepted as a valid alternative system of pharmaceutical therapies. Various studies around the world have been initiated to develop scientific evidence-based herbal therapies. Recently, the therapeutic potential of medicinal plant derived miRNAs has attracted great attraction. MicroRNAs have been indicated as new bioactive ingredients in medicinal plants. However, the stability of miRNAs during the herbal preparation process and their bioavailability in humans remain unclear. L. (European mistletoe) has been widely used in folk medicine for the treatment of cancer and cardiovascular diseases. Our previous study has indicated the therapeutic potential of mistletoe miRNAs by using bioinformatics tools. To evaluate the stability of these miRNAs, various mistletoe extracts that mimic the clinical medicinal use as well as traditional folk medicinal use were prepared. The mistletoe miRNAs including miR166a-3p, miR159a, miR831-5p, val-miR218 and val-miR11 were quantified by stem-loop qRT-PCR. As a result, miRNAs were detectable in the majority of the extracts, indicating that consumption of medicinal plant preparations might introduce miRNAs into mammals. The factors that might cause miRNA degradation include ultrasonic treatment, extreme heat, especially RNase treatment, while to be associated with plant molecules (e.g., proteins, exosomes) might be an efficient way to protect miRNAs against degradation. Our study confirmed the stability of plant derived miRNAs during herb preparations, suggesting the possibility of functionally intact medicinal plant miRNAs in mammals.
草药如今在全球范围内被公认为一种有效的药物治疗替代体系。世界各地已开展了多项研究，以开发基于科学证据的草药疗法。最近，药用植物衍生的微小RNA（miRNA）的治疗潜力引起了极大关注。微小RNA已被证明是药用植物中的新型生物活性成分。然而，miRNA在草药制备过程中的稳定性及其在人体内的生物利用度仍不明确。欧洲槲寄生已在民间医学中广泛用于治疗癌症和心血管疾病。我们之前的研究通过生物信息学工具表明了槲寄生miRNA的治疗潜力。为了评估这些miRNA的稳定性，制备了各种模拟临床药用以及传统民间药用的槲寄生提取物。通过茎环定量逆转录聚合酶链反应（stem-loop qRT-PCR）对包括miR166a-3p、miR159a、miR831-5p、val-miR218和val-miR11在内的槲寄生miRNA进行了定量。结果，在大多数提取物中都可检测到miRNA，这表明食用药用植物制剂可能会将miRNA引入哺乳动物体内。可能导致miRNA降解的因素包括超声处理、极端高温，尤其是核糖核酸酶处理，而与植物分子（如蛋白质、外泌体）结合可能是保护miRNA不被降解的有效方法。我们的研究证实了植物衍生的miRNA在草药制备过程中的稳定性，这表明哺乳动物体内可能存在功能完整的药用植物miRNA。
