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©The Author(s) 2017. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
Therapeutic effect of curcumin on experimental colitis mediated by inhibiting CD8+CD11c+ cells
Hai-Mei Zhao, Fei Han, Rong Xu, Xiao-Ying Huang, Shao-Min Cheng, Min-Fang Huang, Hai-Yang Yue, Xin Wang, Yong Zou, Han-Lin Xu, Duan-Yong Liu
Hai-Mei Zhao, Shao-Min Cheng, School of Basic Medical Sciences, Jiangxi University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Nanchang 330004, Jiangxi Province, China
Fei Han, College of Pharmacy, Jiangxi University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Nanchang 330004, Jiangxi Province, China
Fei Han, Han-Lin Xu, College of Pharmacy, Hubei University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Wuhan 430065, Hubei Province, China
Rong Xu, Min-Fang Huang, Hai-Yang Yue, Xin Wang, Yong Zou, Department of Postgraduate, Jiangxi University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Nanchang 330004, Jiangxi Province, China
Xiao-Ying Huang, Key Laboratory of Modern Preparation of TCM, Ministry of Education, Jiangxi University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Nanchang 330004, Jiangxi Province, China
Han-Lin Xu, Collaborative Innovation Center of TCM of New Products for Geriatrics, Wuhan 430065, Hubei Province, China
Duan-Yong Liu, Science and Technology College, Jiangxi University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Nanchang 330004, Jiangxi Province, China
Author contributions: Zhao HM and Han F contributed equally to this work as joint first authors; Zhao HM and Liu DY designed the research; Zhao HM, Han F, Xu R, Huang XY, Cheng SM, Huang MF, Yue HY, Wang X and Zou Y performed the research; Liu DY contributed the new reagents and analytic tools; Zhao HM, Huang XY, Xu HL and Liu DY analyzed the data; Zhao HM and Liu DY wrote the paper.
Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, No. 81260595 and No. 81460679; Chinese Scholarship Council and Jiangxi Province as visiting scholar, No. 201408360106 and No. 201408360110; the Traditional Chinese Medicine Project of Health Department of Jiangxi Province, No. 2015B049; and Jiangxi University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, No. JZYC15S13.
Institutional animal care and use committee statement: All animals were housed in a pathogen-free environment at the animal facilities [No. SYXK (Gan) 2005-0001] of Jiangxi University of Traditional Chinese Medicine. The experimental protocols (JZ2015-16) were approved by Biomedical Ethics Committee of Jiangxi University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Nanchang, China.
Conflict-of-interest statement: All authors have declared that there is no conflict of interest related to this study.
Data sharing statement: No additional unpublished data are available.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article which was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution Non Commercial (CC BY-NC 4.0) license, which permits others to distribute, remix, adapt, build upon this work non-commercially, and license their derivative works on different terms, provided the original work is properly cited and the use is non-commercial. See: http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/4.0/
Correspondence to: Duan-Yong Liu, Associate Professor, Science and Technology College, Jiangxi University of Traditional Chinese Medicine, 819 Xingwan Road, Nanchang 330004, Jiangxi Province, China.
liuduanyong@163.com
Telephone: +86-791-83769126 Fax: +86-791-83769126
Received: October 22, 2016
Peer-review started: October 25, 2016
First decision: December 2, 2016
Revised: December 25, 2016
Accepted: January 17, 2017
Article in press: January 17, 2017
Published online: March 14, 2017
Processing time: 141 Days and 21.2 Hours
AIM
To verify whether curcumin (Cur) can treat inflammatory bowel disease by regulating CD8+CD11c+ cells.
METHODS
We evaluated the suppressive effect of Cur on CD8+CD11c+ cells in spleen and Peyer’s patches (PPs) in colitis induced by trinitrobenzene sulfonic acid. Mice with colitis were treated by 200 mg/kg Cur for 7 d. On day 8, the therapeutic effect of Cur was evaluated by visual assessment and histological examination, while co-stimulatory molecules of CD8+CD11c+ cells in the spleen and PPs were measured by flow cytometry. The levels of interleukin (IL)-10, interferon (IFN)-γ and transforming growth factor (TGF)-β1 in spleen and colonic mucosa were determined by ELISA.
RESULTS
The disease activity index, colon weight, weight index of colon and histological score of experimental colitis were obviously decreased after Cur treatment, while the body weight and colon length recovered. After treatment with Cur, CD8+CD11c+ cells were decreased in the spleen and PPs, and the expression of major histocompatibility complex II, CD205, CD40, CD40L and intercellular adhesion molecule-1 was inhibited. IL-10, IFN-γ and TGF-β1 levels were increased compared with those in mice with untreated colitis.
CONCLUSION
Cur can effectively treat experimental colitis, which is realized by inhibiting CD8+CD11c+ cells.
Core tip: CD11c is highly expressed in CD8+ and CD8- dendritic cells (DCs). Overaccumulation of CD8+ DCs is seen in colonic mucosa in experimental colitis and patients with inflammatory bowel disease (IBD). CD8+CD11c+ cells may be a potential strategy to explore the mechanism of action of drugs in IBD. The immunosuppressant curcumin (Cur) plays a therapeutic role in various immune diseases, including IBD and rheumatoid arthritis. However, it is unclear whether Cur regulates level of CD8+CD11c+ cells to treat IBD. We found that the therapeutic effect of Cur in experimental colitis was closely related to decreased levels of CD8+CD11c+ cells.
