A Natural Plant Ingredient, Menthone, Regulates T Cell Subtypes and Lowers Pro-inflammatory Cytokines of Rheumatoid Arthritis

  • J Nat Prod. 2022 Apr 22;85(4):1109-1117. doi: 10.1021/acs.jnatprod.1c01231.
Xiangjie Chen  1 ,  Qiuyu Wu  1 ,  Zheng Gong  1 ,  Tengfei Ren  1 ,  Qian Du  1 ,  Yukang Yuan  1 ,  Yibo Zuo  1 ,  Ying Miao  1 ,  Jiuyi He  1 ,  Caixia Qiao  1 ,  Zhijin Zheng  1 ,  Tingting Zhang  1 ,  Lin Huang  2 ,  Zhijun Xie  2 ,  Jun Wang  3 ,  Yueping Zhu  4 ,  Chuanwu Zhu  4 ,  Yang Xu  5 ,  Depei Wu  5 ,  Fangyuan Gong  1 ,  Junping Cheng  4 ,  Chengping Wen  2 ,  Hui Zheng  1
Affiliations
  • 1. Institutes of Biology and Medical Sciences, Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Infection and Immunity, Soochow University, Suzhou 215123, China.
  • 2. College of Basic Medical Sciences, Zhejiang Chinese Medical University, Hangzhou 310053, China.
  • 3. Department of Intensive Care Medicine, The First Affiliated Hospital of Soochow University, Suzhou 215123, China.
  • 4. The Affiliated Infectious Diseases Hospital of Soochow University, Suzhou 215000, China.
  • 5. Institute of Blood and Marrow Transplantation, Collaborative Innovation Center of Hematology, Soochow University, Suzhou 215123, China.
PMID: 35302365 DOI: 10.1021/acs.jnatprod.1c01231
Abstract

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is an autoimmune disease with nearly 1.6 billion patients worldwide and an incidence of 0.5-1%. In recent years, basic and clinical studies have revealed that immune cell responses and corresponding secretion of inflammatory factors are important in the control of RA development. Our study found that a natural plant ingredient, menthone, could be used as a potential antirheumatism compound. In vivo observations demonstrated that menthone alleviates Collagen II-induced arthritis (CIA) in mice. Furthermore, we found that menthone regulates the number of Th1 and Th17 cells in CIA mice. Importantly, menthone significantly inhibits the release of pro-inflammatory cytokines, including TNF-α, IL-1β, and IL-6, in CIA mice. Our study suggests a potential component for the development of drugs to treat rheumatoid arthritis.

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