2. Academic Validation
  3. Anhydroicaritin-loaded mesenchymal stem cell exosomes ameliorate psoriasis via ACSL4-mediated ferroptosis in mice

Anhydroicaritin-loaded mesenchymal stem cell exosomes ameliorate psoriasis via ACSL4-mediated ferroptosis in mice

  • Commun Biol. 2026 Jan 23;9(1):306. doi: 10.1038/s42003-026-09575-1.
Yaoxin Gao # 1,  Baodong Ma # 1,  Ranran Jin # 1,  Yiming Shao 1,  Luoming Zhang 1,  Xiaoyue Qi 2,  Qiurui He 3,  Qinjun Chu 4,  Zhengyuan Xia 5 6 7 8
Affiliations

Affiliations

  • 1 Cell Research and Transformation Center, Zhengzhou Central Hospital Affiliated to Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, China.
  • 2 School of Life Sciences, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, China.
  • 3 Department of Life Sciences, Yuncheng University, Yuncheng, China.
  • 4 Department of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine, Zhengzhou Central Hospital Affiliated to Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, China. [email protected].
  • 5 Cell Research and Transformation Center, Zhengzhou Central Hospital Affiliated to Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, China. [email protected].
  • 6 Department of Anesthesiology and Perioperative Medicine, Zhengzhou Central Hospital Affiliated to Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, China. [email protected].
  • 7 Institute of Trauma and Metabolism, Tianjian Laboratory of Advanced Biomedical Sciences, Academy of Medical Sciences, Zhengzhou University, Zhengzhou, China. [email protected].
  • 8 State Key Laboratory of Pharmaceutical Biotechnology, Department of Medicine, The University of Hong Kong, Pok Fu Lam Road, Hong Kong, China. [email protected].
  • # Contributed equally.
PMID: 41577955 DOI: 10.1038/s42003-026-09575-1
Abstract

Psoriasis is a chronic inflammatory skin condition that is associated with endocrine imbalances and immune system dysregulation. Anhydroicaritin (ANH), derived from Bushen Huayu Decoction, possesses a variety of bioactivities. However, the therapeutic potential of ANH and the underlying molecular mechanisms in psoriasis remain poorly understood. In this study, we evaluate the efficacy of ANH in an imiquimod (IMQ)-induced psoriasis female mouse model and investigated its effects on human keratinocytes along with the mechanistic pathways involved. Our data show that ANH spray significantly improves skin lesions by reducing abnormal proliferation, cytokine release, and infiltration of Th1/Th17 cells in both lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-stimulated HaCaT cells and IMQ-induced lesional model mice. Moreover, extracellular vesicle (EV)-ANH demonstrates enhanced therapeutic effects. Furthermore, RNA-seq indicates that the therapeutic effect of ANH is achieved through the inhibition of acyl-CoA Ligase family member 4 (ACSL4)-dependent Ferroptosis. These results suggest that ANH holds promise as a therapeutic agent for psoriasis treatment.

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