The Chinese herb-derived Sparstolonin B suppresses HIV-1 transcription. Virol J. 2015;12:108. [PMID: 26206295 PMCID: PMC4513614 DOI: 10.1186/s12985-015-0339-8]

Chinese herbal formula in the treatment of metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease: current evidence and practice

Metabolic dysfunction-associated steatotic liver disease (MASLD), formerly known as nonalcoholic fatty liver disease, continues to rise with rapid economic development and poses significant challenges to human health. No effective drugs are clinically approved. MASLD is regarded as a multifaceted pathological process encompassing aberrant lipid metabolism, insulin resistance, inflammation, gut microbiota imbalance, apoptosis, fibrosis, and cirrhosis. In recent decades, herbal medicines have gained increasing attention as potential therapeutic agents for the prevention and treatment of MASLD, due to their good tolerance, high efficacy, and low toxicity. In this review, we summarize the pathological mechanisms of MASLD; emphasis is placed on the anti-MASLD mechanisms of Chinese herbal formula (CHF), especially their effects on improving lipid metabolism, inflammation, intestinal flora, and fibrosis. Our goal is to better understand the pharmacological mechanisms of CHF to inform research on the development of new drugs for the treatment of MASLD.

The Toll-like Receptor-2/4 Antagonist, Sparstolonin B, and Inflammatory Diseases: A Literature Mining and Network Analysis

BACKGROUND

Sparstolonin B (SsnB) is characterized as a new toll-like receptor (TLR)-2/4 antagonist. However, the effects of SsnB on different inflammatory diseases have not been systemically reviewed.

METHODS

We investigated the effects of SsnB on inflammatory diseases with data mining and network analysis of literature, including frequency description, cluster analysis, association rule mining, functional enrichment, and protein-protein interaction (PPI) mining.

RESULTS

A total of 27 experimental reports were included. The ARRIVE 2.0 guidelines were used to evaluate the quality of animal studies. Frequency analysis revealed 13 different diseases (cardio-cerebrovascular system diseases account for 23.53%), 12 pharmacological effects (anti-inflammatory effect accounts for 53.85%), and 67 therapeutic targets. The overview of investigation sequence of SsnB studies was depicted by Sankey diagram. Cluster analysis classified the therapeutic targets for SsnB into four main categories: (1) NF-κB; (2) IL-1β, IL-6, and TNF-α; (3) TLR2, TLR4, and MyD88; (4) the other targets. Moreover, the Apriori association discovered two main association pairs: (1) TNF-α, IL-1β, and IL-6 and (2) TLR2, TLR4, and MyD88 (support range 33.33-50%, confidence range 83.33-88.89%). Functional enrichment of the therapeutic targets for SsnB showed that the top enriched items in the biological process were mainly the response to lipopolysaccharide (LPS)/bacterial origin and regulation of cytokine production. Finally, the PPI network and hub gene selection by maximal clique centrality (MCC) algorithm indicated the top ranked proteins were TNF-α, IL-1β, IL-6, AKT1, PPAR-γ, TLR4, CCL2, and TLR2.

CONCLUSION

These results emphasized the importance of TLR2/TLR4-MyD88-NF-κB-IL-1β/IL-6/TNF-α pathways as therapeutic targets of SsnB in inflammatory diseases.

Transition-metal catalyzed C-H activation as a means of synthesizing complex natural products

Over the past few decades, the advent of C-H activation has led to a rethink among chemists about the synthetic strategies employed for multi-step transformations. Indeed, deploying innovative and masterful tricks against the numerous classical organic transformations has been the need of the hour. Despite this, the immense importance of C-H activation remains unfulfilled unless the methodology can be deployed for large-scale industrial processes and towards the concise, step-economic synthesis of prodigious natural products and pharmaceutical drugs. Lately, the growing potential of C-H activation methodology has indeed driven the pioneers of synthetic organic chemists into finding more efficient methods to accelerate the synthesis of such complex molecular scaffolds. This review aims to draw a general overview of the various C-H activation procedures that have been adopted for synthesizing these vast majority of structurally complicated natural products. Our objective lies in drawing a complete picture and taking the readers through the synthesis of a series of such complex organic compounds by simplified techniques, making it step-economic on a larger scale and thus instigating the readers to trigger the use of such methodology and uncover new, unique patterns for future synthesis of such natural products.

SIRT1: A promising therapeutic target for chronic pain

Chronic pain remains an unresolved problem. Current treatments have limited efficacy. Thus, novel therapeutic targets are urgently required for the development of more effective analgesics. An increasing number of studies have proved that sirtuin 1 (SIRT1) agonists can relieve chronic pain. In this review, we summarize recent progress in understanding the roles and mechanisms of SIRT1 in mediating chronic pain associated with peripheral nerve injury, chemotherapy‐induced peripheral neuropathy, spinal cord injury, bone cancer, and complete Freund's adjuvant injection. Emerging studies have indicated that SIRT1 activation may exert positive effects on chronic pain relief by regulating inflammation, oxidative stress, and mitochondrial dysfunction. Therefore, SIRT1 agonists may serve as potential therapeutic drugs for chronic pain.

Sparstolonin B exerts beneficial effects on prostate cancer by acting on the reactive oxygen species-mediated PI3K/AKT pathway

Prostate cancer is a major health concern in males worldwide, owing to its high incidence. Sparstolonin B (SsnB), a component of the Chinese herbal medicine Sparganium stoloniferum, is used to treat many diseases. However, the effects and mechanisms of action of SsnB in prostate cancer have not yet been reported. In this study, we evaluated the effects of SsnB on cellular processes and tumour growth. In particular, we verified that SsnB could inhibit the proliferation, migration and invasion of prostate cancer cells and induce apoptosis by activating G2/M phase arrest in vitro based on a series of cytological experiments. In vivo, we found that SsnB could inhibit tumour growth in nude mouse xenograft models. We further confirmed that SsnB could repress the PI3K/AKT pathway by increasing reactive oxygen species (ROS) accumulation and oxidative stress. Collectively, SsnB inhibits tumour growth and induces apoptosis in prostate cancer via the suppression of the ROS‐mediated PI3K/AKT pathway and may be a new alternative to adjuvant therapy for prostate cancer.

Forkhead box protein O1 (FoxO1) /SERPINB1 ameliorates ROS production in diabetic nephropathy

With the increasing prevalence of diabetes in recent years, diabetic nephropathy (DN) has become a severe disease that greatly threatens human health. DN not only is a common complication of diabetes, but also takes an important place in kidney disease. To this end, the present study was designed to explore the effects of Forkhead box protein O1 (FoxO1) on reactive oxygen species (ROS) production in DN mice. DN mice were treated with recombinant protein of FoxO1. Afterward, inflammation ELISA kits were used to measure the levels of TNF-α, IL-1β, IL-6, and IL-18. The levels of MDA, SOD, GSH, and GSH-PX were measured using kits according to the manufacturer's instructions. In addition, the production of ROS was assessed. Interestingly, the expression of FoxO1 was down-regulated in DN mice. The treatment of FoxO1 recombinant protein ameliorated MDA levels, increased the levels of SOD, GSH, and GSH-PX, and induced both mRNA and protein expression of hepatic serine protease inhibitor B1 (serpinB1) in ND mice. Similarly, FoxO1 reduced MDA levels and ROS production, increased the levels of SOD, GSH, and GSH-PXs, and induced the mRNA and protein expression of serpinB1 in in vitro model of DN. The inhibition of serpinB1 attenuated the effects of FoxO1 on ROS production-induced oxidative stress in in vitro model of DN. Overall, FoxO1/SERPINB1 ameliorated ROS production-induced oxidative stress in DN.

Sparstolonin B: A Unique Anti-Inflammatory Agent

Toll-like receptors are transmembrane proteins which sense and transmit infectious and inflammatory responses to the cells expressing them. Therapeutic strategies for the blockade of excessive Toll-like receptor signaling are being actively pursued for several diseases. Recently, Sparstolonin B, isolated from Chinese herb, which suppresses selectively Toll-like receptors has been studied in various inflammatory models. The objective of this review is to summarize the current literature regarding the use of Sparstolonin B in various in vitro and in vivo studies and to provide an overview regarding the potential use of this agent in different inflammatory diseases. Additionally, the current knowledge regarding the role of Toll-like receptors in inflammatory disease and the usage of various Toll-like receptor antagonists will be summarized. Based on our review, we believe Sparstolonin B could serve as a potential therapeutic agent for treatment of Toll-like receptor-mediated inflammatory disorders.

Structure-Activity-Relationship and Mechanistic Insights for Anti-HIV Natural Products

Acquired Immunodeficiency Syndrome (AIDS), which chiefly originatesfroma retrovirus named Human Immunodeficiency Virus (HIV), has impacted about 70 million people worldwide. Even though several advances have been made in the field of antiretroviral combination therapy, HIV is still responsible for a considerable number of deaths in Africa. The current antiretroviral therapies have achieved success in providing instant HIV suppression but with countless undesirable adverse effects. Presently, the biodiversity of the plant kingdom is being explored by several researchers for the discovery of potent anti-HIV drugs with different mechanisms of action. The primary challenge is to afford a treatment that is free from any sort of risk of drug resistance and serious side effects. Hence, there is a strong demand to evaluate drugs derived from plants as well as their derivatives. Several plants, such as Andrographis paniculata, Dioscorea bulbifera, Aegle marmelos, Wistaria floribunda, Lindera chunii, Xanthoceras sorbifolia and others have displayed significant anti-HIV activity. Here, weattempt to summarize the main results, which focus on the structures of most potent plant-based natural products having anti-HIV activity along with their mechanisms of action and IC50 values, structure-activity-relationships and important key findings.

SIRT1 inhibits apoptosis in in vivo and in vitro models of spinal cord injury via microRNA-494

The aim of the present study was to investigate the function and mechanism of sirtuin 1 (SIRT1) in spinal cord injury (SCI). Reverse transcription-quantitative polymerase chain reaction was used to measure the expression levels of microRNA (miR)-494. MTT assay, lactate dehydrogenase activity assay and flow cytometry were used to analyze the effects of miR-494 on cell growth and apoptosis in a model of SCI. The present study demonstrated that SIRT1 expression was reduced; whereas miR-494 expression was increased in a rat model of SCI. Overexpression of miR-494 suppressed the protein expression levels of SIRT1, and induced p53 protein expression. Conversely, knockdown of miR-494 induced SIRT1 protein expression in an in vitro model of SCI. Furthermore, overexpression of miR-494 promoted cell apoptosis and decreased cell growth in an in vitro model of SCI; however, miR-494 knockdown enhanced cell growth and inhibited cell apoptosis. Administration of a SIRT1 agonist reduced the effects of miR-494 overexpression on cell apoptosis in an SCI model, whereas treatment with a p53 agonist reduced the effects of miR-494 knockdown on cell apoptosis in an SCI model. Together, these findings suggested that SIRT1 may inhibit apoptosis of SCI in vivo and in vitro through the p53 signaling pathway, whereas miR-494 suppressed SIRT1 and induced apoptosis.

Sparstolonin B attenuates spinal cord injury‑induced inflammation in rats by modulating TLR4‑trafficking

The present study used a spinal cord injury (SCI) model to evaluate whether sparstolonin B was able to prevent SCI, and to investigate the underlying signaling mechanism. Sparstolonin B attenuated the SCI‑induced Batto, Beattie and Bresnahan score and water content in rats. Sparstolonin B attenuated the mRNA expression of proinflammatory cytokines interleukin (IL)‑18, IL‑6, IL‑1β, and IL‑23, decreased the levels of tumor necrosis factor‑α and interferon‑γ, and decreased caspase‑3 activity and apoptosis regulator Bax protein expression in SCI rats. Similarly, sparstolonin B inhibited monocyte chemoattractant protein‑1 mRNA levels, and Toll‑like receptor (TLR) 4, myeloid differentiation primary response protein MyD88 (MyD88) and nuclear factor (NF)‑κB protein levels in SCI rats. The present results suggested that sparstolonin B may attenuate SCI‑induced inflammation and apoptosis in rats by modulating the TLR4/MyD88/NF‑κB signaling pathway.

Herbal medicines and nonalcoholic fatty liver disease

Nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD), which is characterized by excessive fat accumulation in the liver of patients who consume little or no alcohol, becomes increasingly common with rapid economic development. Long-term excess fat accumulation leads to NAFLD and represents a global health problem with no effective therapeutic approach. NAFLD is considered to be a series of complex, multifaceted pathological processes involving oxidative stress, inflammation, apoptosis, and metabolism. Over the past decades, herbal medicines have garnered growing attention as potential therapeutic agents to prevent and treat NAFLD, due to their high efficacy and low risk of side effects. In this review, we evaluate the use of herbal medicines (including traditional Chinese herbal formulas, crude extracts from medicinal plants, and pure natural products) to treat NAFLD. These herbal medicines are natural resources that can inform innovative drug research and the development of treatments for NAFLD in the future.