Gallic Acid Is the Major Active Component of Cortex Moutan in Inhibiting Immune Maturation of Human Monocyte-Derived Dendritic Cells.

Ben Chan,Shui Hu,Long Li,Chun Wong,Clara Lau,Eric Wong,Kam Hon,Patrick Hui,Elaine Wat,Ping Leung,Vanilla Zhang

doi:10.3390/molecules200916388

Ben Chan, Shui Hu + Show 9 more

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https://doi.org/10.3390/molecules200916388

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Abstract

Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a widely prevalent and chronically relapsing inflammatory skin disease. Penta Herbs Formula (PHF) is efficacious in improving the quality of life and reducing topical corticosteroid used in children with AD and one of the active herbs it contains is Cortex Moutan. Recent studies showed that altered functions of dendritic cells (DC) were observed in atopic individuals, suggesting that DC might play a major role in the generation and maintenance of inflammation by their production of pro-inflammatory cytokines. Hence, the aims of the present study were to identify the major active component(s) of Cortex Moutan, which might inhibit DC functions and to investigate their possible interactions with conventional corticosteroid on inhibiting the development of DC from monocytes. Monocyte-derived dendritic cells (moDC) culture model coupled with the high-speed counter-current chromatography (HSCCC), high pressure liquid chromatography (HPLC) and Liquid Chromatography-Mass Spectrometry (LCMS) analyses were used. Gallic acid was the major active component from Cortex Moutan which could dose dependently inhibit interleukin (IL)-12 p40 and the functional cluster of differentiation (CD) surface markers CD40, CD80, CD83 and CD86 expression from cytokine cocktail-activated moDC. Gallic acid could also lower the concentration of hydrocortisone required to inhibit the activation of DC.

Highlights

Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a common chronic relapsing disease with high prevalence in children [1].For a long time, therapeutic strategies of AD have been dominated by the application of local or systemic steroids or other immunosuppressive agents, which have been limited by their potential unwanted local or systemic side effects [2]
As IL-12p40 is the predominant cytokine secreted by activated dendritic cells (DC) [17], the bioactivity of the Cortex Moutan HSCCC fractions of DC
The results obtained in this study agree with our previous clinical findings that Penta Herbs Formula (PHF) is efficacious in improving quality of life by reducing topical corticosteroids use in children with moderate-to-severe AD [4]

Summary

Introduction

Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a common chronic relapsing disease with high prevalence in children [1].For a long time, therapeutic strategies of AD have been dominated by the application of local or systemic steroids or other immunosuppressive agents, which have been limited by their potential unwanted local or systemic side effects [2]. Our laboratory studies showed that PHF could suppress the proliferation of phytohaemagglutinin and Staphylococcal enterotoxin B (SEB)-stimulated peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMC) and inflammatory cytokines productions [5]. Inhibitory actions of PHF on histamine and inflammatory cytokines such as TNF-α and CXCL8 from immunologically activated rat mast cells were observed and it was shown that suppressive effect was mainly contributed by Cortex Moutan [7]. We have shown that PHF, Cortex Moutan and gallic acid could suppress the in vitro activation of AD-related basophils in allergic inflammation [8]. Altered functions of DC in atopic individuals have been observed, especially inflammatory dendritic epidermal cells have been suspected to play a major role in the generation and maintenance of inflammation by their large production of proinflammatory cytokines [10]

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