Polysaccharides from Poria cocos (PCP) inhibits ox-LDL-induced vascular smooth muscle cells proliferation and migration by suppressing TLR4/NF-κB p65 signaling pathway

Abstract

Abstract Vascular smooth muscle cells (VSMCs) proliferation and migration causes the tunica intimal thickening in atherosclerosis. Poria cocos polysaccharides (PCP) is the central active component extracted from Poria cocos, it has remarkable biological functions. However, the role of PCP in atherosclerosis has not been elucidated. In response, we investigated the effect of PCP on ox-LDL-induced VSMCs proliferation and migration. We demonstrate that PCP exerts an inhibitory effect on VSMCs proliferation through G0/G1 cell cycle arrest with the down-regulation of proliferating cell nuclear antigen (PCNA) and cyclinD1. Likewise, the inhibition of metalloproteinase-2 (MMP-2) and intercellular adhesion molecule 1 (ICAM-1) expression might be a mechanism behinds the suppressive effect of PCP on ox-LDL-induced VSMCs migration. PCP also exhibits the same effect to the inhibitor of TLR4/NF-κB on alleviating the expression of p-IκBα, p-NF-κB and TLR4. These results indicate that PCP inhibits ox-LDL-induced VSMCs proliferation and migration through the suppression of TLR4/NF-κB p65 signaling pathway.