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Maisto M, Marzocchi A, Keivani N, Piccolo V, Summa V, Tenore GC. Natural Chalcones for the Management of Obesity Disease. Int J Mol Sci 2023; 24:15929. [PMID: 37958912 PMCID: PMC10648025 DOI: 10.3390/ijms242115929] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 09/25/2023] [Revised: 10/25/2023] [Accepted: 10/31/2023] [Indexed: 11/15/2023] Open
Abstract
In the last decade, the incidence of obesity has increased dramatically worldwide, reaching a dangerous pandemic spread. This condition has serious public health implications as it significantly increases the risk of chronic diseases such as type 2 diabetes, fatty liver, hypertension, heart attack, and stroke. The treatment of obesity is therefore the greatest health challenge of our time. Conventional therapeutic treatment of obesity is based on the use of various synthetic molecules belonging to the class of appetite suppressants, lipase inhibitors, hormones, metabolic regulators, and inhibitors of intestinal peptide receptors. The long-term use of these molecules is generally limited by various side effects and tolerance. For this reason, the search for natural alternatives to treat obesity is a current research goal. This review therefore examined the anti-obesity potential of natural chalcones based on available evidence from in vitro and animal studies. In particular, the results of the main in vitro studies describing the principal molecular therapeutic targets and the mechanism of action of the different chalcones investigated were described. In addition, the results of the most relevant animal studies were reported. Undoubtedly, future clinical studies are urgently needed to confirm and validate the potential of natural chalcones in the clinical prophylaxis of obesity.
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Affiliation(s)
- Maria Maisto
- Department of Pharmacy, University of Naples Federico II, Via Domenico Montesano, 59, 80131 Naples, Italy; (A.M.); (N.K.); (V.P.); (V.S.); (G.C.T.)
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Huang X, Xia Z, Huang Y, Sun Y, Zhang L, Xiong W, Zhang Z. Combined therapy with pioglitazone and FGF21 mRNA synergistically ameliorates metabolic disorders in NAFLD rats. Heliyon 2023; 9:e15146. [PMID: 37123911 PMCID: PMC10133668 DOI: 10.1016/j.heliyon.2023.e15146] [Citation(s) in RCA: 0] [Impact Index Per Article: 0] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/13/2023] [Revised: 03/08/2023] [Accepted: 03/28/2023] [Indexed: 04/03/2023] Open
Abstract
Background Current study aims to investigate the ameliorative effect of pioglitazone (PIO) combined with mRNA encoding FGF21 (termed mFGF21) on the metabolic disorders in rats with nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and its potential mechanism. Methods In vitro functional activity of FGF21 protein expressed by mFGF21 was evaluated in human adipose-derived stem cells (hASCs). The pharmacokinetic profiles of FGF21 protein expressed by mFGF21 were investigated in normal SD rats and NAFLD rats, respectively. Results As the results, it showed that the PIO could enhanced in vitro functional activity of FGF21 protein expressed from mFGF21 in hASCs. Not only that, mFGF21 turns the body into a processing plant for endogenous protein expression, which enhanced the pharmacokinetic profiles of FGF21 proteins. Combined treatment with PIO and mFGF21 significantly reduced body weight, fasting blood glucose levels, insulin levels and lipid metabolism in NAFLD rats compared with control or both two monotherapy groups. The results of H&E staining and Western blot revealed that combined treatment with PIO and mFGF21 significantly decreased hepatic fat accumulation in NAFLD rats by activating the SHP1/AMPK signaling pathway. Conclusions Our finding collectively demonstrated that PIO and mFGF21 combination therapy could synergistically ameliorate metabolic disorders in NAFLD rats.
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Moon H, Choi JW, Song BW, Kim IK, Lim S, Lee S, Han G, Hwang KC, Kim SW. Brite Adipocyte FGF21 Attenuates Cardiac Ischemia/Reperfusion Injury in Rat Hearts by Modulating NRF2. Cells 2022; 11:cells11030567. [PMID: 35159376 PMCID: PMC8833946 DOI: 10.3390/cells11030567] [Citation(s) in RCA: 5] [Impact Index Per Article: 2.5] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [MESH Headings] [Track Full Text] [Download PDF] [Figures] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 12/16/2021] [Revised: 02/04/2022] [Accepted: 02/05/2022] [Indexed: 02/01/2023] Open
Abstract
Although the optimal therapy for myocardial infarction includes reperfusion to restore blood flow to the ischemic area, myocardial injury after ischemia/reperfusion usually leads to an inflammatory response, oxidative stress, and cardiomyocyte apoptosis. In this study, rat adipose-derived stem cells were differentiated into low-thermogenic beige adipocytes (LBACs) and high-thermogenic beige adipocytes (HBACs) to study the different cardioprotective effects of heterogeneous expression of brown adipocytes. We found that antioxidant and antiapoptotic factors in H9c2 cardiomyocytes were upregulated by high levels of secreted FGF21 in HBAC conditioned medium (HBAC-CM), whereas FGF21 in HBAC-CM did not affect antioxidative or antiapoptotic cell death in H9c2 cardiomyocytes with Nrf2 knockdown. These results show that NRF2 mediates antioxidative and antiapoptotic effects through the HBAC-secreted factor FGF21. Consistent with this finding, the expression of antioxidant and antiapoptotic genes was upregulated by highly secreted FGF21 after HBAC-CM treatment compared to LBAC-CM treatment in H9c2 cardiomyocytes via NRF2 activation. Furthermore, HBAC-CM significantly attenuated ischemic rat heart tissue injury via NRF2 activation. Based on these findings, we propose that HBAC-CM exerts beneficial effects in rat cardiac ischemia/reperfusion injury by modulating NRF2 and has potential as a promising therapeutic agent for myocardial infarction.
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Affiliation(s)
- Hanbyeol Moon
- Department of Integrated Omics for Biomedical Sciences, Graduate School, Yonsei University, Seoul 03722, Korea; (H.M.); (G.H.)
| | - Jung-Won Choi
- Institute for Bio-Medical Convergence, College of Medicine, Catholic Kwandong University, Gangneung-si 25601, Korea; (J.-W.C.); (B.-W.S.); (I.-K.K.); (S.L.); (S.L.); (K.-C.H.)
| | - Byeong-Wook Song
- Institute for Bio-Medical Convergence, College of Medicine, Catholic Kwandong University, Gangneung-si 25601, Korea; (J.-W.C.); (B.-W.S.); (I.-K.K.); (S.L.); (S.L.); (K.-C.H.)
- Catholic Kwandong University, International St. Mary’s Hospital, Incheon Metropolitan City 22711, Korea
| | - Il-Kwon Kim
- Institute for Bio-Medical Convergence, College of Medicine, Catholic Kwandong University, Gangneung-si 25601, Korea; (J.-W.C.); (B.-W.S.); (I.-K.K.); (S.L.); (S.L.); (K.-C.H.)
- Catholic Kwandong University, International St. Mary’s Hospital, Incheon Metropolitan City 22711, Korea
| | - Soyeon Lim
- Institute for Bio-Medical Convergence, College of Medicine, Catholic Kwandong University, Gangneung-si 25601, Korea; (J.-W.C.); (B.-W.S.); (I.-K.K.); (S.L.); (S.L.); (K.-C.H.)
- Catholic Kwandong University, International St. Mary’s Hospital, Incheon Metropolitan City 22711, Korea
| | - Seahyoung Lee
- Institute for Bio-Medical Convergence, College of Medicine, Catholic Kwandong University, Gangneung-si 25601, Korea; (J.-W.C.); (B.-W.S.); (I.-K.K.); (S.L.); (S.L.); (K.-C.H.)
- Catholic Kwandong University, International St. Mary’s Hospital, Incheon Metropolitan City 22711, Korea
| | - Gyoonhee Han
- Department of Integrated Omics for Biomedical Sciences, Graduate School, Yonsei University, Seoul 03722, Korea; (H.M.); (G.H.)
| | - Ki-Chul Hwang
- Institute for Bio-Medical Convergence, College of Medicine, Catholic Kwandong University, Gangneung-si 25601, Korea; (J.-W.C.); (B.-W.S.); (I.-K.K.); (S.L.); (S.L.); (K.-C.H.)
- Catholic Kwandong University, International St. Mary’s Hospital, Incheon Metropolitan City 22711, Korea
| | - Sang Woo Kim
- Institute for Bio-Medical Convergence, College of Medicine, Catholic Kwandong University, Gangneung-si 25601, Korea; (J.-W.C.); (B.-W.S.); (I.-K.K.); (S.L.); (S.L.); (K.-C.H.)
- Catholic Kwandong University, International St. Mary’s Hospital, Incheon Metropolitan City 22711, Korea
- Correspondence: ; Tel.: +82-32-290-2612; Fax: +82-32-290-2774
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Zhang L, Yang SY, Qi-Li FR, Liu XX, Zhang WT, Peng C, Wu P, Li P, Li P, Xu X. Administration of isoliquiritigenin prevents nonalcoholic fatty liver disease through a novel IQGAP2-CREB-SIRT1 axis. Phytother Res 2021; 35:3898-3915. [PMID: 33860590 DOI: 10.1002/ptr.7101] [Citation(s) in RCA: 14] [Impact Index Per Article: 4.7] [Reference Citation Analysis] [Abstract] [Key Words] [Track Full Text] [Journal Information] [Subscribe] [Scholar Register] [Received: 01/16/2021] [Revised: 03/09/2021] [Accepted: 03/11/2021] [Indexed: 12/27/2022]
Abstract
Isoliquiritigenin (ISO) is a flavonoid extracted from the root of licorice, which serves various biological and pharmacological functions including antiinflammatory, antioxidation, liver protection, and heart protection. However, the mechanism of its action remains elusive and the direct target proteins of ISO have not been identified so far. Through cell-based screening, we identified ISO as a potent lipid-lowering compound. ISO treatment successfully ameliorated fatty acid-induced cellular lipid accumulation and improved nonalcoholic fatty liver disease (NAFLD) and nonalcoholic steatohepatitis (NASH) by increasing PPARα-dependent lipid oxidation and decreasing SREBPs-dependent lipid synthesis. Both these signaling required the activation of SIRT1. Knockdown of SIRT1 resulted in the reversal of ISO beneficiary effects suggesting that the lipid-lowering activity of ISO was regulated by SIRT1 expression. To identify the direct target of ISO, limited proteolysis combined with mass spectrometry (LiP-SMap) strategy was applied and IQGAP2 was identified as the direct target for ISO in regulating lipid homeostasis. In the presence of ISO, both mRNA and protein levels of SIRT1 were increased; however, this effect was abolished by blocking IQGAP2 expression using siRNA. To explore how IQGAP2 regulated the expression level of SIRT1, proteome profiler human phospho-kinase array kit was used to reveal possible phosphorylated kinases and signaling nodes that ISO affected. We found that through phosphorylation of CREB, ISO transduced signals from IQGAP2 to upregulate SIRT1 expression. Thus, we not only demonstrated the molecular basis of ISO in regulating lipid metabolism but also exhibited for the first time a novel IQGAP2-CREB-SIRT1 axis in treating NAFLD/NASH.
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Affiliation(s)
- Li Zhang
- State Key Laboratory of Natural Medicines, China Pharmaceutical University, Nanjing, China.,Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Drug Discovery for Metabolic Diseases, China Pharmaceutical University, Nanjing, China
| | - Sheng-Ye Yang
- State Key Laboratory of Natural Medicines, China Pharmaceutical University, Nanjing, China
| | - Feng-Rong Qi-Li
- State Key Laboratory of Natural Medicines, China Pharmaceutical University, Nanjing, China
| | - Xiao-Xiao Liu
- State Key Laboratory of Natural Medicines, China Pharmaceutical University, Nanjing, China
| | - Wei-Tao Zhang
- State Key Laboratory of Natural Medicines, China Pharmaceutical University, Nanjing, China
| | - Chao Peng
- National Facility for Protein Science in Shanghai, Zhangjiang Lab, Shanghai Advanced Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Science, Shanghai, China.,Shanghai Science Research Center, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China
| | - Ping Wu
- National Facility for Protein Science in Shanghai, Zhangjiang Lab, Shanghai Advanced Research Institute, Chinese Academy of Science, Shanghai, China.,Shanghai Science Research Center, Chinese Academy of Sciences, Shanghai, China
| | - Ping Li
- State Key Laboratory of Natural Medicines, China Pharmaceutical University, Nanjing, China
| | - Pingping Li
- State Key Laboratory of Bioactive Substance and Function of Natural Medicines, Institute of Materia Medica, Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences & Peking Union Medical College, Beijing, China.,Diabetes Research Center of Chinese Academy of Medical Sciences, Beijing, China
| | - Xiaojun Xu
- State Key Laboratory of Natural Medicines, China Pharmaceutical University, Nanjing, China.,Jiangsu Key Laboratory of Drug Discovery for Metabolic Diseases, China Pharmaceutical University, Nanjing, China
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