Sodium tanshinone IIA sulfonate protects against acute exacerbation of cigarette smoke-induced chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in mice

Therapeutic Effects of Lifei Decoction in a Murine Model of COPD Induced by LPS and Cigarette Smoke

Introduction

The Lifei Decoction (LD) is a commonly utilized Chinese medicine for the treatment of sepsis and bronchial inflammation. However, its therapeutic potential in chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) remains unknown. Therefore, the objective of this study was to investigate the therapeutic efficacy and underlying mechanism of LD in a mouse model of COPD induced by cigarette smoke (CS) combined with lipopolysaccharide (LPS).

Methods

Hematoxylin-eosin (H&E) staining was employed to observe the pathological alterations in lung tissue, while ELISA was utilized for the detection of levels of inflammatory factors in both lung tissue and bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF). Additionally, Western blot analysis was conducted to assess the expression of p-NF-κB, GDF11, ZO-1, and Occludin-1 proteins. The changes in intestinal flora were evaluated using the viable bacteria count method.

Results

The administration of LD demonstrates significant efficacy in mitigating pulmonary tissue damage in a murine model, while concurrently inhibiting the activation of the inflammatory pathway NF-κB to attenuate the levels of pro-inflammatory factors. Moreover, LD exhibits the capacity to enhance the expression of intestinal functional proteins ZO-1 and Occludin-1, thereby rectifying dysbiosis within the gut microbiota.

Conclusion

The LD shows great promise as a potential treatment for COPD.

Efficacy and Mechanisms of Natural Products as Therapeutic Interventions for Chronic Respiratory Diseases

Chronic respiratory diseases are long-term conditions affecting the airways and other lung components that are characterized by a high prevalence, disability rate, and mortality rate. Further optimization of their treatment is required. Natural products, primarily extracted from organisms, possess specific molecular and structural formulas as well as distinct chemical and physical properties. These characteristics grant them the advantages of safety, gentleness, accessibility, and minimal side effects. The numerous advances in the use of natural products for treating chronic respiratory diseases have provided a steady source of motivation for new drug research and development. In this paper, we introduced the pathogenesis of chronic respiratory diseases and natural products. Furthermore, we classified natural products according to their mechanism for treating chronic respiratory diseases and describe the ways in which these products can alleviate the pathological symptoms. Simultaneously, we elaborate on the signal transduction pathways and biological impacts of natural products' targeting. Additionally, we present future prospects for natural products, considering their combination treatment approaches and administration methods. The significance of this review extends to both the research on preventing and treating chronic respiratory diseases, as well as the advancement of novel drug development in this field.

Cryptotanshinone alleviates lipopolysaccharide and cigarette smoke-induced chronic obstructive pulmonary disease in mice via the Keap1/Nrf2 axis

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a major cause of morbidity worldwide. Cigarette smoking, which leads to abnormalities in the airways or alveoli and persistent obstruction of the airway's flow, is a significant risk factor of COPD. Cryptotanshinone (CTS) is the active ingredient in Salvia miltiorrhiza (Danshen) and has many pharmacological properties including anti-inflammatory, antitumor, and antioxidant properties, but its impact on COPD is uncertain. In the present study, the potential effect of CTS on COPD was investigated in a modified COPD mice model induced with cigarette smoke (CS) and lipopolysaccharide (LPS) exposure. CTS significantly reversed the decline in lung function, emphysema, inflammatory cell infiltration, small airway remodeling, pulmonary pathological damage, and airway epithelial cell proliferation in CS- and LPS-exposed mice. Additionally, CTS decreased inflammatory cytokines such as tumor necrosis factor α (TNF α), interleukins IL-6 and IL-1β, and keratinocyte chemoattractant (KC), increased the activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD), Catalase (CAT) and L-Glutathione (GSH), and repressed the expression of protein hydrolases matrix metalloprotein (MMP)- 9 and - 12 in pulmonary tissue and bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF). The protective effects of CTS were also observed in human bronchial epithelial cell line BEAS-2B simulated with cigarette smoke condensate (CSC) and LPS. Mechanistically, CTS can repress the protein level of Keap1, resulting to activation of erythroid 2-related factor (Nrf2), finally alleviating COPD. In summary, the present findings demonstrated that CTS dramatically ameliorates COPD induced by CS and LPS via activating Keap1/Nrf2 pathway.

N6-methyladenosine-methylomic landscape of lung tissues of mice with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD), a common respiratory disease, can be divided into stable phase and acute exacerbation phase (AECOPD) and is characterized by inflammation and hyper-immunity. Methylation of N6-methyladenosine (m6A) is an epigenetic modification that regulates the expression and functions of genes by influencing post-transcriptional RNA modifications. Its influence on the immune regulation mechanism has attracted great attention. Herein, we present the m6Amethylomic landscape and observe how the methylation of m6A participates in the pathological process of COPD. The m6A modification of 430 genes increased and that of 3995 genes decreased in the lung tissues of mice with stable COPD. The lung tissues of mice with AECOPD exhibited 740 genes with hypermethylated m6A peak and 1373 genes with low m6A peak. These differentially methylated genes participated in signaling pathways related to immune functions. To further clarify the expression levels of differentially methylated genes, RNA immunoprecipitation sequencing (MeRIP-seq) and RNA-sequencing data were jointly analyzed. In the stable COPD group, 119 hypermethylated mRNAs (82 upregulated and 37 downregulated mRNAs) and 867 hypomethylated mRNAs (419 upregulated and 448 downregulated mRNAs) were differentially expressed. In the AECOPD group, 87 hypermethylated mRNAs (71 upregulated and 16 downregulated mRNAs) and 358 hypomethylated mRNAs (115 upregulated and 243 downregulated mRNAs) showed differential expression. Many mRNAs were related to immune function and inflammation. Together, this study provides important evidence on the role of RNA methylation of m6A in COPD.

Tanshinone increases Hemopexin expression in lung cells and macrophages to protect against cigarette smoke-induced COPD and enhance antiviral responses

Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a chronic inflammatory disease, while respiratory infections can elicit exacerbations in COPD patients to mediate increased mortality. Administration of Tanshinones (TS) derivatives has been demonstrated to protect against cigarette smoking (CS) and lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced COPD progression. However, the underlying molecular mechanisms and the roles of TS in mitigating the severity of viral-mediated exacerbations of COPD have not been elucidated. Here, we found that TS treatments significantly attenuated lung function decline, inflammatory responses and oxidative stress in CS and LPS-induced COPD mice. Subsequent RNA-seq analysis revealed significantly upregulated Hemopexin expression and enriched interferons (IFNs) signaling pathways in lung tissues of COPD mice upon TS treatments. Moreover, TS administration demonstrated Hemopexin-dependent beneficial roles in BEAS-2B lung cells and RAW264.7 macrophages, which was associated with the suppression of oxidative stress and ERK, NF-κB, and NLRP3 inflammasome signaling pathways-mediated inflammation. Furthermore, TS promoted IFN signaling and rescued impaired antiviral responses in CS and LPS-exposed lung cells that were infected by influenza virus. Notably, hemopexin over-expression in lung cells and macrophages recapitulated the pharmacological activities of TS. Taken together, these results indicate that TS administration is a promising and potential therapeutic strategy for treating COPD and preventing COPD exacerbations.

Network Pharmacology and Experimental Verification Revealed the Mechanism of Yiqi Jianpi Recipe on Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease

Objective

The study aimed to explore the active ingredients, targets, and mechanism of action of Yiqi Jianpi recipe (YQJPR) in the treatment of COPD based on the network pharmacology and COPD rat models.

Methods

The active ingredients and targets of YQJPR were collected by TCMSP. Disease-related protein targets were obtained from GeneCards. The Venn diagram was used to show the key therapeutic targets of COPD in YQJPR. The PPI network was established by STRING, and cytoHubba plug-in was used to screen the core targets within the network. GO functional enrichment and KEGG pathway enrichment analysis were performed to describe the functions and pathways of the core targets. Cytoscape software was used to construct the ingredient-target network and the core target-enrichment pathway network. The chemical constituents of YQJPR were analyzed by HPLC-MS/MS.

Results

The network pharmacology showed 152 active ingredients and 225 targets in YQJPR for the treatment of COPD. The key active ingredients were quercetin, luteolin, kaempferol, tanshinone IIA, and baicalein. The contents of quercetin and luteolin in YQJPR were quantitatively measured by HPLC-MS/MS. 22 core genes were screened, including AKT1, IL-6, JUN, VEGFA, and CASP3, which were mainly involved in BPs such as cell proliferation and differentiation, oxidative/chemical stress, and regulation of DNA-binding transcription factor activity and regulated viral infection, tumor, HIF-1, MAPK, TNF, and IL-17 pathways. Animal experiments showed that YQJPR could significantly reduce the expression of p-ERK1/2, p-Akt, c-Myc, cleaved caspase-3, and p-Stat3 in lung tissue (p < 0.05). HE staining showed that, compared with the model group, YQJPR significantly improved lung tissue morphology and reduced lung inflammation in rats.

Conclusion

The effects of YQJPR on COPD may involve multiple components, pathways, and targets. This study provides new ideas for further and more comprehensive exploration of the therapeutic effect of YQJPR on COPD in the future.

The protective effect of tanshinone IIa on endothelial cells: a generalist among clinical therapeutics

INTRODUCTION

Tanshinone IIa (TSA) has been approved to treat cardiovascular diseases by the China State Food and Drug Administration. TSA has exhibited a variety of pharmacological effects, including vasodilator, antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, and anti-tumor properties. Endothelial cells play an important physiological role in vascular homeostasis and control inflammation, coagulation, and thrombosis. Accumulating studies have shown that TSA can improve endothelial function through various pathways.

AREAS COVERED

The PubMed database was reviewed for relevant papers published up to 2020. This review summarizes the current clinical and pharmaceutical studies to provide a systemic overview of the pharmacological and therapeutic effects of TSA on endothelial cells.

EXPERT OPINION

TSA is a representative monomeric compound extracted from Danshen and it exhibits significant pharmacological and therapeutic properties to improve endothelial cell function, including alleviating oxidative stress, attenuating inflammatory injury, modulating ion channels and so on. TSA represents a spectrum of agents that are extracted from plants and can restore the endothelial function to establish the beneficial and harmless molecular therapeutics. This also suggests the possible detection of endothelial cells for very early diagnosis of diseases. In future, precise therapeutic methods will be developed to repair endothelial cells injury and recover endothelial dysfunction.

Natural product derived phytochemicals in managing acute lung injury by multiple mechanisms

Acute lung injury (ALI) and its more severe form, acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS) as common life-threatening lung diseases with high mortality rates are mostly associated with acute and severe inflammation in lungs. With increasing in-depth studies of ALI/ARDS, significant breakthroughs have been made, however, there are still no effective pharmacological therapies for treatment of ALI/ARDS. Especially, the novel coronavirus pneumonia (COVID-19) is ravaging the globe, and causes severe respiratory distress syndrome. Therefore, developing new drugs for therapy of ALI/ARDS is in great demand, which might also be helpful for treatment of COVID-19. Natural compounds have always inspired drug development, and numerous natural products have shown potential therapeutic effects on ALI/ARDS. Therefore, this review focuses on the potential therapeutic effects of natural compounds on ALI and the underlying mechanisms. Overall, the review discusses 159 compounds and summarizes more than 400 references to present the protective effects of natural compounds against ALI and the underlying mechanism.

Cigarette smoke extract combined with lipopolysaccharide reduces OCTN1/2 expression in human alveolar epithelial cells in vitro and rat lung in vivo under inflammatory conditions

Organic cation transporter 1/2 (OCTN1/2) play important roles in the transport of drugs related to pulmonary inflammatory diseases. Nevertheless, the involvement of inflammation induced by cigarette smoke extract (CSE) combined with lipopolysaccharide (LPS) in the regulation of OCTN1/2 is not fully understood. In this study, CSE combined with LPS was used to establish inflammation models in vitro and in vivo. Our study found that the expression of OCTN1/2 was downregulated in rat lung in vivo and in a human alveolar cell line in vitro after treatment with CSE and LPS compared with the control group, while the expression of inflammatory factors was upregulated. After treatment with ipratropium bromide (IB) or dexamethasone (DEX), the expression of OCTN1/2 was upregulated compared with that in the CSE-LPS model group, while the expression of inflammatory factors was significantly downregulated. After administration of the NF-κB inhibitor PDTC on the basis of the inflammatory status, the expression of OCTN1/2 was upregulated in the treated group compared with the CSE-LPS model group, while the expression of phospho-p65, phospho-IκBα and inflammatory factors was significantly downregulated. We further added the NF-κB agonist HSP70 and found a result that the exact opposite of that observed with PDTC. Our findings show that CSE combined with LPS can downregulate the expression of OCTN1/2 under inflammatory conditions, and that the downregulation of OCTN1/2 expression may partially occur via the NF-κB signaling pathway.