A novel mechanism for regulating lung immune homeostasis : Zukamu granules alleviated acute lung injury in mice by inhibiting NLRP3 inflammasome activation and regulating Th17/Treg cytokine balance

Copyright © 2024 The Authors. Published by Elsevier B.V. All rights reserved..

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE: Acute lung injury (ALI) is a severely acute lung inflammation with high morbidity and mortality. Zukamu granules (ZKMG) is one of the Uygur patent drugs commonly used in clinic, which is included in the National Essential Drugs List (2018 edition). Clinical studies have shown that ZKMG has a significant effect on acute upper respiratory tract infection, and has better anti-inflammatory and antipyretic effects. However, the immunomodulatory mechanism of ZKMG on ALI is still not clear.

AIM OF THE STUDY: The aim of this study is to investigate the lung protective effect and immunomodulatory mechanism of ZKMG on lipopolysaccharide (LPS) -induced ALI mice, and to provide an important basis for the treatment strategy and theoretical basis of ALI.

MATERIALS AND METHODS: First, network pharmacology was used to predict the potential signaling pathways and biological processes of ZKMG related to immunology. Molecular docking technique was used to predict the possibility between the core components of ZKMG acting on NLRP3 protein. In addition, protein levels of F4/80 in lung tissues were assessed by Immunohistochemistry (IHC). The contents of IL-1β, IL-18, IL-17A and IL-10 in the lung tissue and serum, MPO in the lung tissue were detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA). Real-time quantitative PCR analysis (RT-qPCR) was used to detect NLRP3 mRNA in lung tissue. Protein levels of NLRP3, Caspase-1, Cleaved caspase-1 p20, ASC, and GSDMD were detected by Western blot (WB).

RESULTS: The results of network pharmacology showed that the immune pathways of ZKMG were mainly Th17 signaling pathway, IL-17 signaling pathway, NOD-like receptor signaling pathway, etc. Molecular docking results showed that the core components of ZKMG had good binding ability to NLRP3 protein. The verification experiments showed that ZKMG can reduce the degree of lung injury, and reduce the level of inflammatory infiltration of neutrophils and macrophages by reducing the content of MPO and F4/80. In addition, ZKMG can reduce NLRP3 mRNA, inhibit the expression of NLRP3/Caspase-1/GSDMD and other related pathway proteins, and reduce inflammatory factors such as IL-1β and IL-18. It can also reduce the content of pro-inflammatory cytokine IL-17A, increase the content of anti-inflammatory cytokine IL-10 in lung tissue.

CONCLUSION: ZKMG can reduce the degree of lung tissue injury in ALI by inhibiting NLRP3/Caspase-1/GSDMD signaling pathway and restoring the IL-17A/IL-10 cytokine balance, and its protective mechanism may be related to the regulation of lung immune homeostasis. It will provide a new strategy for studying the regulation of lung immune homeostasis.

Medienart:

E-Artikel

Erscheinungsjahr:

2024

Erschienen:

2024

Enthalten in:

Zur Gesamtaufnahme - volume:324

Enthalten in:

Journal of ethnopharmacology - 324(2024) vom: 24. Feb., Seite 117831

Sprache:

Englisch

Beteiligte Personen:

Yu, Chenqian [VerfasserIn]
Li, Yanan [VerfasserIn]
Li, Yixuan [VerfasserIn]
Li, Siyu [VerfasserIn]
Zeng, Fengping [VerfasserIn]
Yu, Jing [VerfasserIn]
Ji, Zhihong [VerfasserIn]
Li, Keao [VerfasserIn]
Zhai, Huaqiang [VerfasserIn]

Links:

Volltext

Themen:

130068-27-8
Acute lung injury
Anti-Inflammatory Agents
Caspase 1
Cytokines
Drugs, Chinese Herbal
EC 3.4.22.36
Immune homeostasis
Inflammasomes
Interleukin-10
Interleukin-17
Interleukin-18
Journal Article
Lipopolysaccharides
NLR Family, Pyrin Domain-Containing 3 Protein
NLRP3 inflammasome
Pyroptosis
RNA, Messenger
Th17/ Treg balance
Zukamu granules

Anmerkungen:

Date Completed 14.02.2024

Date Revised 14.02.2024

published: Print-Electronic

Citation Status MEDLINE

doi:

10.1016/j.jep.2024.117831

funding:

Förderinstitution / Projekttitel:

PPN (Katalog-ID):

NLM367710692