Niu Wei-Xiao, Bao Yun-Yang, Zhang Na, Lu Zhen-Ning, Ge Mao-Xu, Li Yi-Ming, Li Yi, Chen Ming-Hua, He Hong-Wei
Key Laboratory of Biotechnology of Antibiotics, the National Health and Family Planning Commission (NHFPC), Institute of Medicinal Biotechnology, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences and Peking Union Medical College, Beijing 100050, China.
Department of Pharmacy, Qilu Hospital of Shandong University, Jinan 250012, China.
Bioorg Chem. 2022 Oct;127:105971. doi: 10.1016/j.bioorg.2022.105971. Epub 2022 Jun 16.
Liver fibrosis is an important process in chronic liver disease and is strongly related to poor prognosis. Dehydromevalonolactone (C8) is a natural product isolated from a fungus of Fusarium sp. CPCC 401218, and its pharmacological activity has never been reported before. In this study, the potential of C8 as an anti-hepatic fibrosis agent was investigated. In human hepatic stellate cell (HSC) line LX-2, C8 suppressed the increased expression of COL1A1 and α-SMA induced by TGFβ1, which indicated that C8 could repress the activation of HSCs. In bile duct ligated rats, C8 administration (100 mg/kg, i.p.) markedly attenuated liver injury, fibrosis, and inflammation, and suppressed the expression of the macrophage surface marker F4/80. In terms of mechanism, C8 treatment blocked the activation of the NLRP3 inflammasome, which was stimulated by LPS and nigericin in bone marrow-derived macrophages (BMDMs) and companied by the release of active IL-1β. In addition, the activation of LX-2 cells induced by IL-1β released from BMDMs was also inhibited after C8 administration, which indicated that C8 repressed HSCs activation by inhibiting the activation of NLRP3 inflammasome in macrophages. Furthermore, C8 exhibited the effects of anti-fibrosis and inhibiting the expression of NLRP3 inflammasome in non-alcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) mice. Finally, C8 can be commendably absorbed in vivo and was safe for mice at the concentration of 1000 mg/kg (p.o.). In summary, our study reveals that C8 ameliorates HSCs activation and liver fibrosis in cholestasis rats and NASH mice by inhibiting NLRP3 inflammasome in macrophages, and C8 might be a safe and effective candidate for the treatment of liver fibrosis.
肝纤维化是慢性肝病的一个重要过程,与不良预后密切相关。脱氢甲羟戊酸内酯(C8)是从镰刀菌属真菌CPCC 401218中分离出的一种天然产物,其药理活性此前从未有过报道。在本研究中,对C8作为抗肝纤维化药物的潜力进行了研究。在人肝星状细胞(HSC)系LX-2中,C8抑制了TGFβ1诱导的COL1A1和α-SMA表达增加,这表明C8可以抑制肝星状细胞的激活。在胆管结扎大鼠中,给予C8(100mg/kg,腹腔注射)可显著减轻肝损伤、纤维化和炎症,并抑制巨噬细胞表面标志物F4/80的表达。在机制方面,C8处理阻断了NLRP3炎性小体的激活,该激活在骨髓来源的巨噬细胞(BMDM)中由脂多糖(LPS)和尼日利亚菌素刺激,并伴有活性白细胞介素-1β(IL-1β)的释放。此外,给予C8后,BMDM释放的IL-1β诱导的LX-2细胞激活也受到抑制,这表明C8通过抑制巨噬细胞中NLRP3炎性小体的激活来抑制肝星状细胞的激活。此外,C8在非酒精性脂肪性肝炎(NASH)小鼠中表现出抗纤维化和抑制NLRP3炎性小体表达的作用。最后,C8在体内具有良好的吸收性,在1000mg/kg(口服)的浓度下对小鼠是安全的。总之,我们的研究表明,C8通过抑制巨噬细胞中的NLRP3炎性小体来改善胆汁淤积大鼠和NASH小鼠的肝星状细胞激活和肝纤维化,C8可能是治疗肝纤维化的一种安全有效的候选药物。