School of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Beijing University of Chinese Medicine, 100029, China.
State Key Laboratory of Stem Cell and Reproductive Biology, Institute of Zoology, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Beijing, 100101, China.
Pharmacol Res. 2021 Jan;163:105244. doi: 10.1016/j.phrs.2020.105244. Epub 2020 Oct 11.
Diabetic erectile dysfunction (DED) hugely affected the patients' sexual life quality. However, there are no satisfactory therapeutic methods and intervention targets for this subtype of erectile dysfunction (ED). Inspired by the clinical practice of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM), we found that hirudin, the main active ingredient in the leech, could ameliorate the ED symptoms of the DED mouse model. To further reveal the underlying mechanism of hirudin, we designed a novel strategy to discover potential targets based on the diagnostic system of TCM, and found that myeloperoxidase (MPO) was a promising target of hirudin. Hirudin directly interacts with MPO and inhibits its activity, thus further decreases the content of oxidized low-density lipoprotein (ox-LDL) in serum. Our results demonstrated that the hirudin could ameliorate the symptoms of DED, and revealed the underlying mechanism of hirudin in regulating the activity of MPO.
糖尿病性勃起功能障碍（DED）极大地影响了患者的性生活质量。然而，对于这种类型的勃起功能障碍（ED），目前还没有满意的治疗方法和干预靶点。受中医临床实践的启发，我们发现水蛭素，即水蛭的主要活性成分，可改善 DED 小鼠模型的 ED 症状。为了进一步揭示水蛭素的潜在作用机制，我们设计了一种新的策略，基于中医诊断系统发现潜在靶点，发现髓过氧化物酶（MPO）是水蛭素的一个有前途的靶点。水蛭素直接与 MPO 相互作用并抑制其活性，从而进一步降低血清中氧化低密度脂蛋白（ox-LDL）的含量。我们的研究结果表明，水蛭素可以改善 DED 的症状，并揭示了水蛭素调节 MPO 活性的潜在机制。
