Reversal of alopecia areata, osteoporosis follow treatment with activation of Tgr5 in mice

The role of bile acid receptor TGR5 in regulating inflammatory signalling

Takeda G protein-coupled receptor 5 (TGR5) is a bile acid receptor, and its role in regulating metabolism after binding with bile acids has been established. Since the immune response depends on metabolism to provide biomolecules and energy to cope with challenging conditions, emerging evidence reveals the regulatory effects of TGR5 on the immune response. An in-depth understanding of the effect of TGR5 on immune regulation can help us disentangle the interaction of metabolism and immune response, accelerating the development of TGR5 as a therapeutic target. Herein, we reviewed more than 200 articles published in the last 20 years in PubMed, to discuss the roles of TGR5 in regulating inflammatory response, the molecular mechanism, as well as existing problems. Particularly, its anti-inflammation effect is emphasized.

Bile Acids in Autoimmune Liver Disease: Unveiling the Nexus of Inflammation, Inflammatory Cells, and Treatment Strategies

As bile acids not solely play an essential role in nutrition absorption, but also in regulating metabolic functions as well as immune response, bile acids and their signaling pathways are increasingly acknowledged as potential therapeutic targets in the context of chronic liver diseases. Bile acid receptors such as G protein bile acid-activated receptor 1 and farnesoid X receptor are expressed in different immune cells engaged in innate immunity. Recently, a series of studies have revealed distinct functions of bile acids and bile acid receptors within the adaptive immune system. In addition, a variety of molecules targeting bile acid receptors and transporters are currently in advanced stages of clinical development. Autoimmune liver diseases including conditions like primary biliary cholangitis, primary sclerosing cholangitis, and autoimmune hepatitis can lead to chronic inflammation, fibrosis, and even cirrhosis and liver failure. In this review, we focus on the role of bile acids in the inflammatory aspects of autoimmune liver diseases.

Cycloastragenol: A Novel Senolytic Agent That Induces Senescent Cell Apoptosis and Restores Physical Function in TBI-Aged Mice

Accumulating evidence indicates that the increased burden of senescent cells (SCs) in aged organisms plays an important role in many age-associated diseases. The pharmacological elimination of SCs with “senolytics” has been emerging as a new therapy for age-related diseases and extending the healthy lifespan. In the present study, we identified that cycloastragenol (CAG), a secondary metabolite isolated from Astragalus membrananceus, delays age-related symptoms in mice through its senolytic activity against SCs. By screening a series of compounds, we found that CAG selectively kills SCs by inducing SCs apoptosis and that this process is associated with the inhibition of Bcl-2 antiapoptotic family proteins and the PI3K/AKT/mTOR pathway. In addition, CAG treatment also suppressed the development of the senescence-associated secretory phenotype (SASP) in SCs, thereby inhibiting cell migration mediated by the SASP. Furthermore, the administration of CAG for 2 weeks to mice with irradiation-induced aging alleviated the burden of SCs and improved the animals’ age-related physical dysfunction. Overall, our studies demonstrate that CAG is a novel senolytic agent with in vivo activity that has the potential to be used in the treatment of age-related diseases.

Identification of kukoamine a as an anti-osteoporosis drug target using network pharmacology and experiment verification

BACKGROUND

Osteoporosis (OP) is a major and growing public health problem characterized by decreased bone mineral density and destroyed bone microarchitecture. Previous studies found that Lycium Chinense Mill (LC) has a potent role in inhibiting bone loss. Kukoamine A (KuA), a bioactive compound extract from LC was responsible for the anti-osteoporosis effect. This study aimed to investigate the anti-osteoporosis effect of KuA isolated from LC in treating OP and its potential molecular mechanism.

METHOD

In this study, network pharmacology and molecular docking were investigated firstly to find the active ingredients of LC such as KuA, and the target genes of OP by the TCMSP platform. The LC-OP-potential Target gene network was constructed by the STRING database and network maps were built by Cytoscape software. And then, the anti-osteoporotic effect of KuA in OVX-induced osteoporosis mice and MC3T3-E1 cell lines were investigated and the potential molecular mechanism including inflammation level, cell apoptosis, and oxidative stress was analyzed by dual-energy X-ray absorptiometry (DXA), micro-CT, ELISA, RT-PCR, and Western Blotting.

RESULT

A total of 22 active compounds were screened, and we found KuA was identified as the highest active ingredient. Glycogen Phosphorylase (PYGM) was the target gene associated with a maximum number of active ingredients of LC and regulated KuA. In vivo, KuA treatment significantly increased the bone mineral density and improve bone microarchitecture for example increased BV/TV, Tb.N and Tb.Th but reduced Tb.Sp in tibia and lumber 4. Furthermore, KuA increased mRNA expression of osteoblastic differentiation-related genes in OVX mice and protects against OVX-induced cell apoptosis, oxidative stress level and inflammation level. In vitro, KuA significantly improves osteogenic differentiation and mineralization in cells experiment. In addition, KuA also attenuated inflammation levels, cell apoptosis, and oxidative stress level.

CONCLUSION

The results suggest that KuA could protect against the development of OP in osteoblast cells and ovariectomized OP model mice and these found to provide a better understanding of the pharmacological activities of KuA again bone loss.

The role of TGR5 as an onco-immunological biomarker in tumor staging and prognosis by encompassing the tumor microenvironment

The relationship between G protein–coupled bile acid receptor 1 (TGR5, GPBAR1) and, specifically, cancer has been studied in in vivo and in vitro experiments, but there is still a lack of pan-cancer analysis to understand the prognostic significance and functioning mechanism of TGR5 in different cancer-driving oncogenic processes. Here, we used Gene Expression Integration, Human Protein Atlas, and The Cancer Genome Atlas (TCGA) to perform a pan-cancer analysis of the role of TGR5 in all 33 tumors. In all TCGA tumors, the TGR5 gene expression has been assessed, and we found that the high TGR5 gene expression in most cancers is associated with poor prognosis of overall survival for cancers such as glioblastoma multiforme (p = 0.0048), kidney renal papillary cell carcinoma (p = 0.033), lower grade glioma (p = 0.0028), thymoma (p = 0.048), and uveal melanoma (p = 0.004), and then the lower expression of TGR5 was linked with poor prognosis in cervical squamous cell carcinoma and endocervical adenocarcinoma (p = 0.014), malignant mesothelioma (MESO) (p = 0.048), sarcoma (p = 0.018), and skin cutaneous melanoma (p = 0.0085). The TGR5 expression was linked with the immune infiltration level of the macrophage M2_TIDE and was also associated with DNA methylation in ovarian and breast cancers. The regulation of hormone secretion, Rap1 pathway, osteoclast differentiation, and bile acid pathway was involved in the functional mechanism of TGR5. Besides, gene expressions were different in different tumors detected by RT-PCR, and cell activity experiments have also found that TGR5 can increase the activity of renal cell carcinoma and reduce the activity of skin cancer and osteosarcoma cells. In this investigation, the aim was to assess the comprehensive overview of the oncogenic roles of TGR5 in all TCGA tumors using pan-analysis.

The effects of metformin and alendronate in attenuating bone loss and improving glucose metabolism in diabetes mellitus mice

Background: To explore the anti-osteoporosis and anti-diabetes effects and potential underlying mechanisms of treatment with metformin and alendronate in diabetes mellitus mice.

Methods: Eight-week-old C57 BL/KS db/db and db/+ female mice were evaluated according to the following treatment group for 12 weeks: control group, diabetes mellitus group, diabetes mellitus with metformin group, diabetes mellitus with Alendronate group, diabetes mellitus with metformin plus alendronate group. Glucose level, glucose tolerance test, bone mineral density, bone microarchitecture, bone histomorphometry, serum biomarkers, and qPCR analysis.

Results: Combined metformin and alendronate can improve progression in glucose metabolism and bone metabolism, including blood glucose levels, blood glucose levels after 4 and 16 hours fasting, glucose tolerance test results, insulin sensitivity and reduces bone loss than the diabetes group. The use of alendronate alone can increase significantly serum glucagon-like peptide-1 levels than the diabetes group. The use of metformin alone can improve bone microstructure such as Tb.Sp and Tb.N of spine in diabetic mice.

Conclusion: The combined use of alendronate and metformin has an anti-diabetes and anti-osteoporotic effect compared with diabetic mice, but they appear to act no obvious synergistically between alendronate and metformin.