Integrated analysis reveals effects of bioactive ingredients from Limonium Sinense (Girard) Kuntze on hypoxia-inducible factor (HIF) activation

Copper-enriched automotive brake wear particles perturb human alveolar cellular homeostasis

BACKGROUND

Airborne fine particulate matter with diameter < 2.5 μm (PM2.5), can reach the alveolar regions of the lungs, and is associated with over 4 million premature deaths per year worldwide. However, the source-specific consequences of PM2.5 exposure remain poorly understood. A major, but unregulated source is car brake wear, which exhaust emission reduction measures have not diminished.

METHODS

We used an interdisciplinary approach to investigate the consequences of brake-wear PM2.5 exposure upon lung alveolar cellular homeostasis using diesel exhaust PM as a comparator. This involved RNA-Seq to analyse global transcriptomic changes, metabolic analyses to investigate glycolytic reprogramming, mass spectrometry to determine PM composition, and reporter assays to provide mechanistic insight into differential effects.

RESULTS

We identified brake-wear PM from copper-enriched non-asbestos organic, and ceramic brake pads as inducing the greatest oxidative stress, inflammation, and pseudohypoxic HIF activation (a pathway implicated in diseases associated with air pollution exposure, including cancer, and pulmonary fibrosis), as well as perturbation of metabolism, and metal homeostasis compared with brake wear PM from low- or semi-metallic pads, and also, importantly, diesel exhaust PM. Compositional and metal chelator analyses identified that differential effects were driven by copper.

CONCLUSIONS

We demonstrate here that brake-wear PM may perturb cellular homeostasis more than diesel exhaust PM. Our findings demonstrate the potential differences in effects, not only for non-exhaust vs exhaust PM, but also amongst different sources of non-exhaust PM. This has implications for our understanding of the potential health effects of road vehicle-associated PM. More broadly, our findings illustrate the importance of PM composition on potential health effects, highlighting the need for targeted legislation to protect public health.

Drimane-type sesquiterpenoids and triterpenoids from the whole plant of Limonium sinense with their antiproliferative and anti-inflammatory activities

Saline-tolerant medicinal plants possess novel chemical constituents with high bioactivity because of their unique secondary metabolic pathways. Limonium sinense, an aquatic plant found in the coastal wetlands of the Yellow River Delta, was collected and studied in the present work. Ten drimane-type sesquiterpenoids and four triterpenoids, including six new ones (sinenseines A-F), were isolated from a whole plant of L. sinense for the first time. Their structures, including the absolute configurations, were determined by analyzing the comprehensive spectroscopic data. In addition, twelve terpenoids, including nine sesquiterpenoids, were identified using UPLC-MS/MS and GNPS methods. All isolates were evaluated for their antiproliferative and anti-inflammatory activities. Compounds 2-4, 6, 13, and 14 showed moderate anti-tumor effects on A549, H1299, HepG2 and A2780 cells with IC50 values ranging from 35.2 ± 2.0 to 90.5 ± 3.1 μM. Furthermore, compound 1 exhibited significant anti-inflammatory activity with an IC50 value of 8.3 ± 1.2 μM against NO production in LPS-induced RAW 264.7 macrophages.

Chemical Constituents from the Whole Plants of Limonium sinense and Their In Vitro Anti-Inflammatory Activity

The Yellow River Delta possesses lots of characteristic medicinal plants due to its high salinity and high alkaline environment and Limonium sinense is an iconic plant. However, there are very few studies on L. sinense and its chemical constituents have not been investigated in recent ten years. In the present study, the chemical constituents and bioactivities of L. sinense were fully studied for the first time. UPLC-MS/MS method combined with database comparison identified 109 compounds mainly including flavonoids, alkaloids and polyphenols. In addition, the potential bioactivities of L. sinense were considerated as anti-inflammatory, anti-oxidative, anti-tumor, hepatoprotective and hpyerglycemic activities based on these identified compounds and their related literature. Furthermore, four derivatives of 12-oxo-phytodienoic acid and butenolide including two new ones (1 and 2) were isolated from the whole plants of L. sinense. Their structures, including the absolute configurations, were determined by the analysis of comprehensive spectroscopic data. All isolates were evaluated for their anti-inflammatory activity. Compound 1 exhibited moderate anti-inflammatory activity with IC50 value of 37.5±1.2 μM on NO production level.

An investigation into the HIF-dependent intestinal barrier protective mechanism of Qingchang Wenzhong decoction in ulcerative colitis management

ETHNOPHARMACOLOGICAL RELEVANCE

Ulcerative colitis (UC) is a chronic, non-specific inflammatory disease affecting the colon and rectum with an etiology that remains elusive. Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has been widely used on long-term UC treatment to better maintain the efficacy than traditional aminosalicylic acid or glucocorticosteroids and to ease financial burden of patients. Qingchang Wenzhong Decoction (QCWZD) is a modern TCM decoction with established clinical efficacy but the mechanism of its protection on intestinal barrier function remains unclear.

AIM OF THE STUDY

Current findings highlight that the activation of the hypoxia inducible factor (HIF) pathway can facilitate the repair of intestinal epithelium barrier. This study is to investigate the protective effects of QCWZD and its HIF-targeted ingredients on hypoxia-dependent intestinal barrier.

METHODS

The mice model of UC was induced by dextran sulfate sodium (DSS). Disease activity index (DAI) and histopathology scores and colon length were used to measure the severity of colitis. The DAO activity in serum and protein expression of tight junction (TJ) proteins were detected to explore the function of intestinal barrier. The protein levels of HIF-1α and its downstream gene heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) were measured as well. HIF-targeted active ingredients in QCWZD were selected by network pharmacology and molecular docking. Protective effects of six constituents on HIF-related anti-oxidative and barrier protective pathway were evaluated by lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced HT29 and RAW264.7 cells, through the measurement of the production of ROS and mRNA level of pro-inflammatory cytokines. HIF-1α knockdown was carried out to explore the correlation of protection effects with HIF-related pathway of the active ingredients.

RESULTS

QCWZD effectively alleviated colitis induced by DSS and demonstrated a protective effect on intestinal barrier function by upregulating HIF-related pathways. Six specific ingredients in QCWZD, targeting HIF, successfully reduced the production of cellular ROS and proinflammatory cytokines in LPS-induced cells. It is noteworthy that the barrier protection provided by these molecules is intricately linked with the HIF-related pathway.

CONCLUSIONS

This study elucidates the HIF-related molecular mechanism of QCWZD in protecting the function of the epithelial barrier. Six compounds targeting the activation of the HIF-dependent pathway were demonstrated to unveil a novel therapeutic approach for managing UC.

Integrated network pharmacology and cellular assay reveal the biological mechanisms of Limonium sinense (Girard) Kuntze against Breast cancer

BACKGROUND

Limonium Sinense (Girard) Kuntze (L. sinense) has been widely used for the treatment of anaemia, bleeding, cancer, and other disorders in Chinese folk medicine. The aim of this study is to predict the therapeutic effects of L. sinense and investigate the potential mechanisms using integrated network pharmacology methods and in vitro cellular experiments.

METHODS

The active ingredients of L. sinense were collected from published literature, and the potential targets related to L. sinense were obtained from public databases. Gene Ontology (GO), Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) and DisGeNET enrichment analyses were performed to explore the underlying mechanisms. Molecular docking, cellular experiments, RNA-sequencing (RNA-seq) and Gene Expression Omnibus (GEO) datasets were employed to further evaluate the findings.

RESULTS

A total of 15 active ingredients of L. sinense and their corresponding 389 targets were obtained. KEGG enrichment analysis revealed that the biological effects of L. sinense were primarily associated with "Pathways in cancer". DisGeNET enrichment analysis highlighted the potential role of L. sinense in the treatment of breast cancer. Apigenin within L. sinense showed promising potential against cancer. Cellular experiments demonstrated that the L. sinense ethanol extract (LSE) exhibited a significant growth inhibitory effect on multiple breast cancer cell lines in both 2D and 3D cultures. RNA-seq analysis revealed a potential impact of LSE on breast cancer. Additionally, analysis of GEO datasets verified the significant enrichment of breast cancer and several cancer-related pathways upon treatment with Apigenin in human breast cancer cells.

CONCLUSION

This study predicts the biological activities of L. sinense and demonstrates the inhibitory effect of LSE on breast cancer cells, highlighting the potential application of L. sinense in cancer treatment.