Regulation of Yujin Powder alcoholic extracts on ILC3s-TD IgA-colonic mucosal flora axis of DSS-induced ulcerative colitis

Bibliometric analysis of traditional Chinese medicine in the treatment of inflammatory bowel disease

OBJECTIVE

This study conducts a bibliometric analysis of literature on the treatment of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) with traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) to explore its research status, hotspots, and development trends, providing ideas and references for further research.

METHOD

We screened literature for treating IBD with TCM from the Web of Science Core Collection (WOSCC), and used the VOSviewer software (1.6.18) to discover cooperation among countries, institutions, authors, and information on journals, keywords, etc. We use the CiteSpace software (6.2.R2) to analyze co-citation and burst discovery of references.

RESULTS

In all, 440 relevant literature papers were searched and screened from the WOSCC database. The results showed that the number of publications concerning treating IBD with TCM has shown a significant growth in the past decade. China is far ahead in terms of article output, occupying a dominant position. The institution with the most published articles is Nanjing University of Traditional Chinese Medicine. The authors who have published most of the articles are Dai Yancheng, Shi Rui, and Zhou Lian. The Journal of Ethnopharmacology published maximum articles in this field, while Gastroenterology was the most cited journal. Ungaro et al.'s article entitled "Ulcerative colitis" (https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(16)32126-2), published in The Lancet in 2017 was the most cited study. The high-frequency keywords mainly include ulcerative colitis, inflammation, NF-κB, expression, traditional Chinese medicine, gut microbiota, activation, mice, cells, etc.

CONCLUSIONS

The research heat for treating IBD with TCM has risen over the past decade, with studies focusing on three main aspects: clinical studies of TCM, basic pharmacology, and animal experimental research. The research hotspot shifted from pathogenesis, clinical study of TCM, basic pharmacology, and complementary therapies to the study of network pharmacology and the mechanism of action of TCM related to gut microbiota. Network pharmacology and gut microbiota are at the frontiers of research and turning to be the future research trends to provide new insights and ideas for further research for treating IBD with TCM.

IRF4 induces M1 macrophage polarization and aggravates ulcerative colitis progression by the Bcl6-dependent STAT3 pathway

Ulcerative colitis (UC) is an idiopathic chronic intestinal inflammation. An increasing body of evidence shows that macrophages play an important role in the pathogenesis of UC. Interferon regulatory factor 4 (IRF4) is crucial for the development of autoimmune diseases via regulating immune cells. This research was designed to explore the function of IRF4 in UC and its association with macrophage polarization. The in vitro model of UC was established by stimulating colonic epithelial cells with tumor necrosis factor α (TNF-α). A mouse model of UC was constructed by injecting C57BL/6 mice with dextran sulfate sodium salt. Flow cytometry was used to assess percentage of CD11b+ CD86+ and CD11b+ CD206+ cells in bone marrow macrophages. Occult blood tests were used to detect hematochezia. Hematoxylin and eosin staining assay was used to assess colon pathological changes. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA) was used to detect concentrations of inflammatory cytokines. The interaction of IRF4 and B-cell lymphoma 6 (Bcl6) was confirmed using GST pull-down and coimmunoprecipitation assays. Our findings revealed that IRF4 promoted cell apoptosis and stimulated M1 macrophage polarization in vitro. Furthermore, IRF4 aggravated symptoms of the mouse model of UC and aggravated M1 macrophage polarization in vivo. IRF4 negatively regulated Bcl6 expression. Downregulation of Bcl6 promoted apoptosis and M1 macrophage polarization in the presence of IRF4 in vitro and in vivo. Moreover, Bcl6 positively mediated the Janus kinase 2 (JAK2)/signal transducer and activator of transcription 3 (STAT3) signaling pathway. In conclusion, IRF4 aggravated UC progression through promoting M1 macrophage polarization via Bcl6/JAK2/STAT3 pathway. These findings suggested that IRF4 might be a good target to competitively inhibit or to treat with UC.

Repairing the intestinal mucosal barrier of traditional Chinese medicine for ulcerative colitis: a review

Damage to the intestinal mucosal barrier play an important role in the pathogenesis of ulcerative colitis (UC). Discovering the key regulators and repairing the disturbed barrier are crucial for preventing and treating UC. Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has been proved to be effective on treating UC and has exhibited its role in repairing the intestinal mucosal barrier. We summarized the evidence of TCM against UC by protecting and repairing the physical barrier, chemical barrier, immune barrier, and biological barrier. Mechanisms of increasing intestinal epithelial cells, tight junction proteins, and mucins, promoting intestinal stem cell proliferation, restoring the abundance of the intestinal microbiota, and modulating the innate and adaptive immunity in gut, were all involved in. Some upstream proteins and signaling pathways have been elucidated. Based on the existing problems, we suggested future studies paying attention to patients' samples and animal models of UC and TCM syndromes, conducting rescue experiments, exploring more upstream regulators, and adopting new technical methods. We hope this review can provide a theoretical basis and novel ideas for clarifying the mechanisms of TCM against UC via repairing the intestinal mucosal barrier.