Abstract
Abstract Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is categorized as an autoimmune disease that leads to bone or joint deformity due to altered immune response. Studies have concluded the role of inflammation and oxidative stress in the progression of RA and agents inhibiting these processes showed benificial effect against the disease. Xuebijing (XBJ) injection is an intravenous patent preparation made from five-traditional Chinese medicines. Previous studies showed its excellent pharmacological activities, such as against sepsis, inflammation, and oxidative stress which has encouraged us to investigate the protective effect of XBJ against rheumatoid arthritis cell line (MH7A). For this purpose, the effect of XBJ was quantified on several parameters on the human synovial MH7A cell line activated with tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α). The results of the study showed that the level of tested interleukines (IL- 1β, IL- 6, IL- 8) and collagenases 1, and 13, and matrix metallo-proteinases 1, and 13 (MMP-1, and MMP-13) were found significantly reduced in XBJ treated group as compared to TNF-α treated MH7A cells. The XBJ treated group showed reduction in mRNA protein expression of COX-2 and iNOS in RT-qPCR assay. The rate of cellular apoptosis was found increased in XBJ treated group with reduction of cell viability of MH7A cells. The XBJ also showed attenuation of the expression of p-MEK/1/2 and p-p65 in MH7A cells in a western blot analysis. Our results demonstrated that XBJ significantly inhibits the inflammatory response, prevents cell viability, and induces apoptosis in human RA synovial cells by preventing the activation of the MEK/NF-κB pathway.
Highlights
Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has evolved over thousands of years
The MH7A cells were pre-treated with various concentrations of XBJ (10, 15 and 30 ml/kg) for 2 h, the cells were subjected to treatment with tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) (10 ng/ ml; Sigma-Aldrich; Merck KGaA) at room temperature for 24 h to establish the in vitro model of rheumatoid arthritis (RA)
Results showed that the level of Bcl-2 was notably decreased and Bax was increased in XBJ treated group as compared to TNF-α treated group with maximum modulation was achieved in 30 ml/kg group
Summary
Traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) has evolved over thousands of years. TCM practitioners use various mind and body practices (such as acupuncture and tai chi) as well as herbal products obtained from plants to address health problems (Wang et al, 2011; Yuan et al, 2016). Various studies have documented the effectiveness of TCM for the benefit against rheumatoid arthritis (RA) (Zhang et al, 2010) It is categorized as an autoimmune disease that leads to bone or joint deformity due to altered immune response. Xuebijing (XBJ) injection is an intravenous patent preparation made from five traditional Chinese medicines, namely, Chishao (Radix Paeoniae Rubra), Danggui (Radix Angelica Sinensis), Chuanxiong (Rhizoma Chuanxiong), Honghua (Flos Carthami), and Danshen (Radix Salviae Miltiorrhizae) It consist neumerous bioactive compounds, such as safflower yellow A, ligustrazine, danshensu, ferulic acid, paeoniflorin, and protocatechualdehyde (Long et al, 2020), It dissipates blood stasis by activating blood circulation, eliminating pathogenic heat from the blood and degrading toxins. Considering the significant benefit of anti-inflammatory and antioxidants in RA and strong antiinflammtory and antioxidant effect of XBJ, in the present study, we intend to scrutinize whether XBJ has any protective role against RA by examining its effect against TNF-α-treated human RA synovial cells
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