Improvement of skin lesions in corticosteroid withdrawal-associated severe eczema by multicomponent traditional Chinese medicine therapy

Omalizumab may protect allergic patients against COVID-19: A systematic review

Omalizumab, which downregulates the immunoglobulin E (IgE) receptor site on plasmacytoid dendritic cells and thereby increases interferon-α (INF-α) production, may shorten the duration of viral infections by enhancing the antiviral immunity. A systematic review was conducted to investigate whether previous anti-IgE treatment with omalizumab could protect against SARS-CoV-2 disease ("COVID-19") (infection, disease duration, and severity), and whether IFN-α upregulation could be involved. The research included articles published from March 2020 to January 2022. An accurate search was performed on bibliographic biomedical database (MEDLINE - Pubmed, SCOPUS, EMBASE, BIOMED CENTRAL, Google scholar, COCHRANE LIBRARY, ClinicalTrial.gov) including cohorts, case reports and reviews. Different methods were used, based on the study design, to assess the quality of eligible studies. Several authors link omalizumab to a possible protection against viruses, but they often refer to studies carried out before the pandemic and with viruses other than SARS-CoV-2 (severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2) (eg, rhinoviruses -RV). Few cases of COVID-19 patients treated with omalizumab have been recorded, and, in most of them, no increased susceptibility to severe disease was observed. According to these data, the current indication is to continue omalizumab therapy during the pandemic. Moreover, although omalizumab may enhance the antiviral immune response even for SARS-CoV-2, further studies are needed to confirm this hypothesis. It would be helpful to establish a registry of omalizumab-treated (or in treatment) patients who have developed COVID-19. Finally, randomized controlled trials could be able to demonstrate the effect of omalizumab in protecting against severe SARS-CoV-2, through IFN-α upregulation or other immunological pathways.

Network Pharmacology and Experimental Validation to Explore the Molecular Mechanisms of Compound Huangbai Liquid for the Treatment of Acne

Background

Acne is a highly prevalent skin disease, and inflammation plays an important role. Compound Huangbai Liquid (CHL) is a classical traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) with remarkable clinical therapeutic effects on acne. However, a holistic network pharmacological approach to explain the mechanism of CHL in the treatment of acne has not been explored.

Methods

In this study, active components and action targets of Compound Huangbai Liquid were assessed via BATMAN-TCM. The target genes related to acne were extracted from GeneCards, DisGeNet and OMIM databases. Venn diagrams to predict potential targets for the treatment of acne. Protein-Protein interaction (PPI) analysis was proceeded through String database to obtain the core protein, and the protein interaction network was constructed by Cytoscape 3.9.1. Gene Ontology (Go) analysis and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) pathway enrichment analysis were performed on Metascape platforms and bioinformatics.com.cn. TCM-compound-target-disease network and disease-target pathway network were constructed using Cytoscape to give the visual result. Finally, the results were further verified by establishing the mouse acne animal model.

Results

This approach identified 165 active compounds, 1117 gene targets, 156 acne-related targets, and 34 potential target proteins for the treatment of acne with CHL. The biological processes were primarily related to cellular response to lipid, response to lipopolysaccharide, and regulation of secretion. The CHL was significantly associated with ten pathways including the Chagas disease and pathways in cancer. Animal experiments showed that CHL could significantly alleviate the levels of inflammatory factors and TLR4/NF-κB/p38 MAPK signaling pathway in acne.

Conclusion

This study revealed the multiple active components, multiple targets, and multiple pathways of CHL in the treatment of acne, which provided a new perspective for the study of the mechanism of traditional Chinese medicine in the treatment of acne.

Huanglian ointment alleviates eczema by maintaining the balance of c-Jun and JunB and inhibiting AGE-RAGE-mediated pro-inflammation signaling pathway

BACKGROUND

Huanglian ointment exhibits clinical efficacy for repairing skin barriers and inhibiting skin inflammation, and has been used to ameliorate eczema for many years. However, the active components and mechanism of Huanglian ointment have not yet been elucidated.

PURPOSE

This study aimed to demonstrate the main active components and molecular mechanisms of Huanglian ointment for the treatment of eczema.

METHODS

The main active components of Huanglian ointment were identified by gas chromatography-mass spectrometry. Network pharmacology approach and molecular docking techniques to predict the potential molecular mechanisms of Huanglian ointment alleviating eczema. Furthermore, Biostir-AD®-induced guinea pigs and tumor necrosis α (TNF-α)/interferon γ (IFN-γ)-induced HaCaT cells were employed to investigate the effectiveness and mechanisms of Huanglian ointment using histopathological staining, enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay, MTT assay, and western blot analysis.

RESULTS

Fourteen chemistry components were identified in Huanglian ointment. In total, 78 intersecting gene targets were identified between Huanglian ointment and eczema, including Jun, inflammatory regulators, and chemokine factors. Intersecting gene targets were enriched for cytokine and chemokine receptor binding, and inflammatory related signaling pathways. The molecular docking results showed that the identified components had a stable binding conformation with core targets. In vivo experiments showed that Huanglian ointment markedly ameliorated eczema-like skin lesions, restored histopathological morphology, and decreased levels of TNF-α, IFN-γ, and interleukin 6. Moreover, Huanglian ointment effectively protected HaCaT cells against TNF-α/IFN-γ-induced cell death and overproduction of thymus- and activation-regulated chemokine, macrophage-derived chemokine, and regulated upon activation normal T cell-expressed and secreted factor. Subsequently, we found that Huanglian ointment repaired skin barriers by affecting c-Jun, JunB, and filaggrin expression, and suppressed inflammatory response by inhibiting AGE-RAGE signaling pathway, both in vivo and in vitro.

CONCLUSION

Our results demonstrated that Huanglian ointment repaired skin barriers and inhibited inflammation by maintaining the balance of c-Jun and JunB, and suppressing AGE-RAGE signaling pathway, thereby relieving eczema. These findings providing a molecular basis for treatment of eczema by Huanglian ointment.