Project description:Medicinal plants have shown great promise as a source of novel drug compounds for the treatment of inflammatory disorders. In our search for new entities with anti-inflammatory potential, the extracts of the whole plant of Saussurea heteromalla (family-Asteraceae), collected from Himalayas, were evaluated in the high throughput screen for TNF-α and IL-6 inhibitors. The plant has been found as a new source of chlorojanerin, a guaianolide type of sesquiterpene lactone. This is the first report on the potent anti-inflammatory activity of the compound. Chlorojanerin was shown to be significantly effective in inhibiting TNF-α and IL-6 production in LPS induced THP-1 cells (TNF-α, IC50 = 3µM and IL-6, IC50 = 0.8µM). The compound also blocked TNF-α and IL-6 production from LPS induced human monocytes and synovial cells from RA patients. Chlorojanerin also inhibited the binding of NF-κB in a GFP reporter assay system. Transcriptional profiling of the LPS stimulated THP-1 cells revealed that chlorojanerin exerted its anti-inflammatory effect by inhibiting the expression of genes involved in activating the transcription factor – NF-κB. Real time analysis of these genes validated the effect of chlorojanerin on the classical downstream targets of NF-κB. Thus, this study clearly delineated 8 targets specific for the effect of chlorojanerin on NF-κB induced signaling at the mRNA level. This work is a step towards the isolation and characterization of lead anti-inflammatory agents from the extract of Saussurea heteromalla, which can be developed into better therapeutic molecules targeted towards some specific inflammatory diseases.
Project description:Medicinal plants have shown great promise as a source of novel drug compounds for the treatment of inflammatory disorders. In our search for new entities with anti-inflammatory potential, the extracts of the whole plant of Saussurea heteromalla (family-Asteraceae), collected from Himalayas, were evaluated in the high throughput screen for TNF-α and IL-6 inhibitors. The plant has been found as a new source of chlorojanerin, a guaianolide type of sesquiterpene lactone. This is the first report on the potent anti-inflammatory activity of the compound. Chlorojanerin was shown to be significantly effective in inhibiting TNF-α and IL-6 production in LPS induced THP-1 cells (TNF-α, IC50 = 3µM and IL-6, IC50 = 0.8µM). The compound also blocked TNF-α and IL-6 production from LPS induced human monocytes and synovial cells from RA patients. Chlorojanerin also inhibited the binding of NF-κB in a GFP reporter assay system. Transcriptional profiling of the LPS stimulated THP-1 cells revealed that chlorojanerin exerted its anti-inflammatory effect by inhibiting the expression of genes involved in activating the transcription factor – NF-κB. Real time analysis of these genes validated the effect of chlorojanerin on the classical downstream targets of NF-κB. Thus, this study clearly delineated 8 targets specific for the effect of chlorojanerin on NF-κB induced signaling at the mRNA level. This work is a step towards the isolation and characterization of lead anti-inflammatory agents from the extract of Saussurea heteromalla, which can be developed into better therapeutic molecules targeted towards some specific inflammatory diseases. Single dye labelling with Cy3 for all treatment RNA samples. Treatments included unstimulated, LPS stimulated, Chlorjanerin treatment and dexamethasone treatment.