Natural compound library screening to identify berberine as a treatment for rheumatoid arthritis

© 2024. The Author(s), under exclusive licence to International League of Associations for Rheumatology (ILAR)..

OBJECTIVE: Fibroblast-like synoviocytes (FLS) play a critical role on the exacerbation and deterioration of rheumatoid arthritis (RA). Aberrant activation of FLS pyroptosis signaling is responsible for the hyperplasia of synovium and destruction of cartilage of RA. This study investigated the screened traditional Chinese medicine berberine (BBR), an active alkaloid extracted from the Coptis chinensis plant, that regulates the pyroptosis of FLS and secretion of inflammatory factors in rheumatoid arthritis.

METHODS: First, BBR was screened using a high-throughput drug screening strategy, and its inhibitory effect on RA-FLS was verified by in vivo and in vitro experiments. Second, BBR was intraperitoneally administrated into the collagen-induced arthritis rat model, and the clinical scores, arthritis index, and joint HE staining were evaluated. Third, synovial tissues of CIA mice were collected, and the expression of NLRP3, cleaved-caspase-1, GSDMD-N, Mst1, and YAP was detected by Western blot.

RESULTS: The administration of BBR dramatically alleviated the severity of collagen-induced arthritis rat model with a decreased clinical score and inflammation reduction. In addition, BBR intervention significantly attenuates several pro-inflammatory cytokines (interleukin-1β, interleukin-6, interleukin-17, and interleukin-18). Moreover, BBR can reduce the pyroptosis response (caspase-1, NLR family pyrin domain containing 3, and gasdermin D) of the RA-FLS in vitro, activating the Hippo signaling pathway (Mammalian sterile 20-like kinase 1, yes-associated protein, and transcriptional enhanced associate domains) so as to inhibit the pro-inflammatory effect of RA-FLS.

CONCLUSION: These results support the role of BBR in RA and may have therapeutic implications by directly repressing the activation, migration of RA-FLS, which contributing to the attenuation of the progress of CIA. Therefore, targeting PU.1 might be a potential therapeutic approach for RA. Besides, BBR inhibited RA-FLS pyroptosis by downregulating of NLRP3 inflammasomes (NLRP3, caspase-1) and eased the pro-inflammatory activities via activating the Hippo signaling pathway, thereby improving the symptom of CIA.

Medienart:

E-Artikel

Erscheinungsjahr:

2024

Erschienen:

2024

Enthalten in:

Zur Gesamtaufnahme - volume:43

Enthalten in:

Clinical rheumatology - 43(2024), 3 vom: 13. Feb., Seite 959-969

Sprache:

Englisch

Beteiligte Personen:

Zhang, Li [VerfasserIn]
Tan, Min [VerfasserIn]
Mao, Jing [VerfasserIn]
Zhang, Juan [VerfasserIn]
Wang, Xiao-Yuan [VerfasserIn]
Zhang, Yan [VerfasserIn]
Duo, Rui-Xue [VerfasserIn]
Hao, Jia-Yao [VerfasserIn]
Shen, Hai-Li [VerfasserIn]

Links:

Volltext

Themen:

0I8Y3P32UF
Berberine
Caspases
Collagen-induced arthritis
EC 3.4.22.-
Fibroblast-like synoviocytes (FLS)
Hippo signaling pathway
Inflammation
Journal Article
NLR Family, Pyrin Domain-Containing 3 Protein
Pyroptosis

Anmerkungen:

Date Completed 20.02.2024

Date Revised 20.02.2024

published: Print-Electronic

Citation Status MEDLINE

doi:

10.1007/s10067-024-06871-1

funding:

Förderinstitution / Projekttitel:

PPN (Katalog-ID):

NLM367952882