Curcumin protects against lipopolysaccharide-induced vasoconstriction dysfunction via inhibition of thrombospondin-1 and transforming growth factor-β1

Recent Advances in Biologically Active Ingredients from Natural Drugs for Sepsis Treatment

Sepsis refers to the dysregulated host response to infection; its incidence and mortality rates are high. It is a worldwide medical problem but there is no specific drug for it. In recent years, clinical and experimental studies have found that many monomer components of traditional Chinese medicine have certain effects on the treatment of sepsis. This paper reviews the advances in research on the active ingredients of traditional Chinese medicine involved in the treatment of sepsis in recent years according to their chemical structure; it could provide ideas and references for further research and development in Chinese materia medica for the treatment of sepsis.

Modulation of the mTOR Pathway by Curcumin in the Heart of Septic Mice

mTOR is a signaling pathway involved in cell survival, cell stress response, and protein synthesis that may be a key point in sepsis-induced cardiac dysfunction. Curcumin has been reported in vitro as an mTOR inhibitor compound; however, there are no studies demonstrating this effect in experimental sepsis. Thus, this study aimed to evaluate the action of curcumin on the mTOR pathway in the heart of septic mice. Free curcumin (FC) and nanocurcumin (NC) were used, and samples were obtained at 24 and 120 h after sepsis. Histopathological and ultrastructural analysis showed that treatments with FC and NC reduced cardiac lesions caused by sepsis. Our main results demonstrated that curcumin reduced mTORC1 and Raptor mRNA at 24 and 120 h compared with the septic group; in contrast, mTORC2 mRNA increased at 24 h. Additionally, the total mTOR mRNA expression was reduced at 24 h compared with the septic group. Our results indicate that treatment with curcumin and nanocurcumin promoted a cardioprotective response that could be related to the modulation of the mTOR pathway.

Anti-Hyperglycemic Agents in the Adjuvant Treatment of Sepsis: Improving Intestinal Barrier Function

Intestinal barrier injury and hyperglycemia are common in patients with sepsis. Bacteria translocation and systemic inflammatory response caused by intestinal barrier injury play a significant role in sepsis occurrence and deterioration, while hyperglycemia is linked to adverse outcomes in sepsis. Previous studies have shown that hyperglycemia is an independent risk factor for intestinal barrier injury. Concurrently, increasing evidence has indicated that some anti-hyperglycemic agents not only improve intestinal barrier function but are also beneficial in managing sepsis-induced organ dysfunction. Therefore, we assume that these agents can block or reduce the severity of sepsis by improving intestinal barrier function. Accordingly, we explicated the connection between sepsis, intestinal barrier, and hyperglycemia, overviewed the evidence on improving intestinal barrier function and alleviating sepsis-induced organ dysfunction by anti-hyperglycemic agents (eg, metformin, peroxisome proliferators activated receptor-γ agonists, berberine, and curcumin), and summarized some common characteristics of these agents to provide a new perspective in the adjuvant treatment of sepsis.

Toward Regulatory Effects of Curcumin on Transforming Growth Factor-Beta Across Different Diseases: A Review

Immune response, proliferation, migration and angiogenesis are juts a few of cellular events that are regulated by transforming growth factor-β (TGF-β) in cells. A number of studies have documented that TGF-β undergoes abnormal expression in different diseases, e.g., diabetes, cancer, fibrosis, asthma, arthritis, among others. This has led to great fascination into this signaling pathway and developing agents with modulatory impact on TGF-β. Curcumin, a natural-based compound, is obtained from rhizome and roots of turmeric plant. It has a number of pharmacological activities including antioxidant, anti-inflammatory, anti-tumor, anti-diabetes and so on. Noteworthy, it has been demonstrated that curcumin affects different molecular signaling pathways such as Wnt/β-catenin, Nrf2, AMPK, mitogen-activated protein kinase and so on. In the present review, we evaluate the potential of curcumin in regulation of TGF-β signaling pathway to corelate it with therapeutic impacts of curcumin. By modulation of TGF-β (both upregulation and down-regulation), curcumin ameliorates fibrosis, neurological disorders, liver disease, diabetes and asthma. Besides, curcumin targets TGF-β signaling pathway which is capable of suppressing proliferation of tumor cells and invading cancer cells.

Therapeutic effects of curcumin on sepsis and mechanisms of action: A systematic review of preclinical studies

Sepsis is a complex disease that begins with an infectious disorder and causes excessive immune responses. Curcumin is considered as an active component of turmeric that can improve the condition in sepsis due to its anti-inflammatory and antioxidant properties. PubMed, Embase, Google Scholar, Web of Science, and Scopus databases were searched. Searching was not limited to a specific publication period. Only English-language original articles, which had examined the effect of curcumin on sepsis, were included. At first, 1,098 articles were totally found, and 209 articles were selected after excluding duplicated data; 46 articles were remained due to the curcumin effects on sepsis. These included 23 in vitro studies and 23 animal studies. Our results showed that curcumin and various analogs of curcumin can have an inhibitory effect on sepsis-induced complications. Curcumin has the ability to inhibit the inflammatory, oxidative coagulation factors, and regulation of immune responses in sepsis. Despite the promising evidence of the therapeutic effects of curcumin on the sepsis complication, further studies seem necessary to investigate its effect and possible mechanisms of action in human studies.

Lipopolysaccharide impairs mucin secretion and stimulated mucosal immune stress response in respiratory tract of neonatal chicks

The chicken immune system is immature at the time of hatching. The development of the respiratory immune system after hatching is vital to young chicks. The aim of this study was to investigate the effect of LPS on respiratory mucin and IgA production in chicks. In this study, we selected 7days old AA broilers of similar weigh randomly; LPS atomized at 1mg/kg body weigh dose in the confined space of 1 cubic meter. The chickens exposed for 2h. Then collect samples after 4h and 8h respectively. Compared to control, LPS inhibited mucus production in BALF, caused a rising trend of the concentration of IgA in serum and BALF, and increased the protein expression of IgA in lung tissue. And LPS treat induced a decreasing trend of the mRNA expression of IL-6 and TGF-β and significantly decreased the gene expression of TGF-α and EGFR after 4h. After 8h the LPS suppressed the TGF-β mRNA expression significantly. In addition, LPS treatment stimulated airway epithelial cilia sparse after 4h. Therefore, results proved: LPS can impair mucin expression and stimulated mucosal immune stress reaction of respiratory tract. This study suggested that LPS involved in respiratory tract mucosal immune response in chicks by regulating gene expression of cytokines and epithelial growth factors.

The Role of Clinical Proteomics, Lipidomics, and Genomics in the Diagnosis of Alzheimer's Disease

The early diagnosis of Alzheimer’s disease (AD) has become important to the reversal and treatment of neurodegeneration, which may be relevant to premature brain aging that is associated with chronic disease progression. Clinical proteomics allows the detection of various proteins in fluids such as the urine, plasma, and cerebrospinal fluid for the diagnosis of AD. Interest in lipidomics has accelerated with plasma testing for various lipid biomarkers that may with clinical proteomics provide a more reproducible diagnosis for early brain aging that is connected to other chronic diseases. The combination of proteomics with lipidomics may decrease the biological variability between studies and provide reproducible results that detect a community’s susceptibility to AD. The diagnosis of chronic disease associated with AD that now involves genomics may provide increased sensitivity to avoid inadvertent errors related to plasma versus cerebrospinal fluid testing by proteomics and lipidomics that identify new disease biomarkers in body fluids, cells, and tissues. The diagnosis of AD by various plasma biomarkers with clinical proteomics may now require the involvement of lipidomics and genomics to provide interpretation of proteomic results from various laboratories around the world.

Curcumin inhibits cell proliferation and induces apoptosis of human non-small cell lung cancer cells through the upregulation of miR-192-5p and suppression of PI3K/Akt signaling pathway

Curcumin is the main active ingredient extracted from the traditional Chinese medicine, turmeric, which acts against non-small cell lung cancer cell (NSCLC), lowers blood pressure, is anti-inflammatory, choleretic, and exerts anti‑oxidant effects, without any obvious toxicity in the long term. The aim of the present study was to investigate whether the anticancer effect of curcumin inhibited cell proliferation and induced apoptosis of human NSCLC through the upregulation of microRNA‑192-5p (miR-192-5p) and suppression of the PI3K/Akt signaling pathway. In the present study, treatment with curcumin inhibited cell proliferation, induced cell apoptosis and increased the caspase-3 activity of A549 cells. The results also showed that, miR-192-5p relative expression of NCL-H460 cells was relatively lower than that of A549 cells, which was higher, with that of BEAS-2E cells being the highest. miR-192-5p mimics suppressed cell proliferation and increased cell apoptosis of A549 cells. However, anti-miR-192-5p mimics increased cell proliferation and inhibited cell apoptosis of A549 cells. Curcumin treatment effectively increased the relative miR‑192-5p expression and suppressed the PI3K/Akt signaling pathway. miR-192-5p mimics enhanced the effect of curcumin on cell viability and apoptosis and suppressed the PI3K/Akt signaling pathway in A549 cells. Anti-miR-192-5p mimics reversed the effect of curcumin on A549 cells and PI3K/Akt expression. Collectively, our findings suggested that curcumin inhibited cell proliferation and induced apoptosis of human non-small cell lung cancer cells through the upregulation of miR-192-5p and suppression of the PI3K/Akt signaling pathway.

Inflammation, oxidative stress and renin angiotensin system in atherosclerosis

Atherosclerosis is a chronic inflammatory disease associated with cardiovascular dysfunction including myocardial infarction, unstable angina, sudden cardiac death, stroke and peripheral thromboses. It has been predicted that atherosclerosis will be the primary cause of death in the world by 2020. Atherogenesis is initiated by endothelial injury due to oxidative stress associated with cardiovascular risk factors including diabetes mellitus, hypertension, cigarette smoking, dyslipidemia, obesity, and metabolic syndrome. The impairment of the endothelium associated with cardiovascular risk factors creates an imbalance between vasodilating and vasoconstricting factors, in particular, an increase in angiotensin II (Ang II) and a decrease in nitric oxide. The renin-angiotensin system (RAS), and its primary mediator Ang II, also have a direct influence on the progression of the atherosclerotic process via effects on endothelial function, inflammation, fibrinolytic balance, and plaque stability. Anti-inflammatory agents [statins, secretory phospholipase A2 inhibitor, lipoprotein-associated phospholipase A2 inhibitor, 5-lipoxygenase activating protein, chemokine motif ligand-2, C-C chemokine motif receptor 2 pathway inhibitors, methotrexate, IL-1 pathway inhibitor and RAS inhibitors (angiotensin-converting enzyme inhibitors)], Ang II receptor blockers and ranin inhibitors may slow inflammatory processes and disease progression. Several studies in human using anti-inflammatory agents and RAS inhibitors revealed vascular benefits and reduced progression of coronary atherosclerosis in patients with stable angina pectoris; decreased vascular inflammatory markers, improved common carotid intima-media thickness and plaque volume in patients with diagnosed atherosclerosis. Recent preclinical studies have demonstrated therapeutic efficacy of vitamin D analogs paricalcitol in ApoE-deficient atherosclerotic mice.

Effect of paricalcitol and enalapril on renal inflammation/oxidative stress in atherosclerosis

AIM: To investigate the protective effect of paricalcitol and enalapril on renal inflammation and oxidative stress in ApoE-knock out mice.

METHODS: Animals treated for 4 mo as group (1) ApoE-knock out plus vehicle, group (2) ApoE-knock out plus paricalcitol (200 ng thrice a week), (3) ApoE-knock out plus enalapril (30 mg/L), (4) ApoE-knock out plus paricalcitol plus enalapril and (5) normal. Blood pressure (BP) was recorded using tail cuff method. The kidneys were isolated for biochemical assays using spectrophotometer and Western blot analyses.

RESULTS: ApoE-deficient mice developed high BP (127 ± 3 mmHg) and it was ameliorated by enalapril and enalapril plus paricalcitol treatments but not with paricalcitol alone. Renal malondialdehyde concentrations, p22^phox, manganese-superoxide dismutase, inducible nitric oxide synthase (NOS), monocyte chemoattractant protein-1, tumor necrosis factor-alpha and transforming growth factor-β1 levels significantly elevated but reduced glutathione, CuZn-SOD and eNOS levels significantly depleted in ApoE-knock out animals compared to normal. Administration of paricalcitol, enalapril and combined together ameliorated the renal inflammation and oxidative stress in ApoE-knock out animals.

CONCLUSION: Paricalcitol and enalapril combo treatment ameliorates renal inflammation as well as oxidative stress in atherosclerotic animals.