2. Academic Validation
  3. Cayratia albifolia C.L.Li exerts anti-rheumatoid arthritis effect by inhibiting macrophage activation and neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs)

Cayratia albifolia C.L.Li exerts anti-rheumatoid arthritis effect by inhibiting macrophage activation and neutrophil extracellular traps (NETs)

  • Chin Med. 2024 Mar 5;19(1):42. doi: 10.1186/s13020-024-00910-4.
Wei Wang # 1,  Zai-Qi Zhang # 2,  Yi-Chi Zhang 1,  Yi-Qiang Wu 1,  Zhuo Yang 1,  Yong-Zhe Zheng 1,  Jia-Hong Lu 3,  Peng-Fei Tu 1,  Ke-Wu Zeng 4
Affiliations

Affiliations

  • 1 State Key Laboratory of Natural and Biomimetic Drugs, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Peking University, Beijing, 100191, China.
  • 2 Hunan Provincial Key Laboratory of Dong Medicine, Hunan University of Medicine, Huaihua, 41800, China. [email protected].
  • 3 State Key Laboratory of Quality Research in Chinese Medicine, Institute of Chinese Medical Sciences, University of Macau, Macau, 999078, SAR, China.
  • 4 State Key Laboratory of Natural and Biomimetic Drugs, School of Pharmaceutical Sciences, Peking University, Beijing, 100191, China. [email protected].
  • # Contributed equally.
PMID: 38444022 DOI: 10.1186/s13020-024-00910-4
Abstract

Background: Cayratia albifolia C.L.Li (CAC), commonly known as "Jiao-Mei-Gu" in China, has been extensively utilized by the Dong minority for several millennia to effectively alleviate symptoms associated with autoimmune diseases. CAC extract is believed to possess significant anti-inflammatory properties within the context of Dong medicine. However, an in-depth understanding of the specific pharmaceutical effects and underlying mechanisms through which CAC extract acts against rheumatoid arthritis (RA) has yet to be established.

Methods: Twenty-four Sprague-Dawley rats were divided into four groups, with six rats in each group. To induce the collagen-induced arthritis (CIA) model, the rats underwent a process of double immunization with collagen and adjuvant. CAC extract (100 mg/kg) was orally administered to rats. The anti-RA effects were evaluated in CIA rats by arthritis score, hind paw volume and histopathology analysis. Pull-down assay was conducted to identify the potential targets of CAC extract from RAW264.7 macrophage lysates. Moreover, mechanism studies of CAC extract were performed by immunofluorescence assays, Real-Time PCR and Western blot.

Results: CAC extract was found to obviously down-regulate hind paw volume of CIA rats, with diminished inflammation response and damage. 177 targets were identified from CAC extract by MS-based pull-down assay. Bioinformatics analysis found that these targets were mainly enriched in macrophage activation and neutrophils extracellular traps (NETs). Additionally, we reported that CAC extract owned significant anti-inflammatory activity by regulating PI3K-Akt-mTOR signal pathway, and inhibited NETosis in response to PMA.

Conclusions: We clarified that CAC extract significantly attenuated RA by inactivating macrophage and reducing NETosis via a multi-targets regulation.

Keywords

Cayratia albifolia C.L.Li; Macrophage; NETosis; PI3K-Akt pathway; Rheumatoid arthritis.

Figures
Products