Abstract
While liquiritigenin, isolated from Spatholobus suberectus Dunn, is known to possess anti-inflammatory activities, it still remains to be known whether liquiritigenin has a suppressive effect on T cell activation and T cell-mediated disease. Here, we used Jurkat T cells to explore an underlying mechanism of pre-treatment with liquiritigenin in activated T cell in vitro and used atopic dermatitis (AD) in vivo to confirm it. We found liquiritigenin blocks IL-2 and CD69 expression from activated T cells by PMA/A23187 or anti-CD3/CD28 antibodies. The expressions of surface molecules, including CD40L and CD25, were also reduced in activated T cells pre-treated with liquiritigenin. Western blot analysis indicated repressive effects by liquiritigenin are involved in NFκB and MAPK pathways. To assess the effects of liquiritigenin in vivo, an AD model was applied as T cell-mediated disease. Oral administration of liquiritigenin attenuates AD manifestations, including ear thickness, IgE level, and thicknesses of dermis and epidermis. Systemic protections by liquiritigenin were observed to be declined in size and weight of draining lymph nodes (dLNs) and expressions of effector cytokines from CD4+ T cells in dLNs. These results suggest liquiritigenin has an anti-atopic effect via control of T cell activation and exhibits therapeutic potential for T cell-mediated disorders.
Highlights
Spatholobus suberectus Dunn (S. suberectus), a traditional Korean medicinal plant, has shown several pharmacological activities that include anti-inflammatory, anti-fungal, anti-bacterial, and anti-tumor activities [1,2,3]
There were four mice groups, namely, healthy untouched mice that were not administrated with either DNCB/mite extract or liquiritigenin, mice that were administrated with liquiritigenin alone (LG), control mice that were treated with DNCB/mite extract alone (AD), and experimental mice that were treated simultaneously with both DNCB/mite extract and liquiritigenin (AD + LG)
Jurkat T cells were treated with the indicated concentration of liquiritigenin for 24 h, and cell images were collected by IncuCyte® cell imaging system
Summary
Spatholobus suberectus Dunn (S. suberectus), a traditional Korean medicinal plant, has shown several pharmacological activities that include anti-inflammatory, anti-fungal, anti-bacterial, and anti-tumor activities [1,2,3]. Understanding the process of T cell activation is critical for developing novel therapeutics of T cell-mediated diseases including atopic dermatitis (AD). T cells play a critical role in AD progress, so that regulation of T cell activation is a promising strategy for improving AD symptoms [25,26]. It is still unknown whether treatment with liquiritigenin abrogates T cell activation in vitro and protects from atopic dermatitis in vivo. We explored the effect of liquiritigenin isolated from S. suberectus on T cell activation with underlying mechanism and therapeutic potential of oral administration of liquiritigenin for AD pathogenesis
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