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©The Author(s) 2022. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
Curcumin alleviates experimental colitis via a potential mechanism involving memory B cells and Bcl-6-Syk-BLNK signaling
Si-Yi Wei, Tian-Tian Wu, Jia-Qi Huang, Zeng-Ping Kang, Meng-Xue Wang, You-Bao Zhong, Wei Ge, Bu-Gao Zhou, Hai-Mei Zhao, Hai-Yan Wang, Duan-Yong Liu
Si-Yi Wei, Tian-Tian Wu, Jia-Qi Huang, Zeng-Ping Kang, Meng-Xue Wang, Department of Postgraduate, Jiangxi University of Chinese Medicine, Nanchang 330004, Jiangxi Province, China
You-Bao Zhong, Laboratory Animal Research Center for Science and Technology, Jiangxi University of Chinese Medicine, Nanchang 330004, Jiangxi Province, China
Wei Ge, Affiliated Hospital, Jiangxi University of Chinese Medicine, Nanchang 330004, Jiangxi Province, China
Bu-Gao Zhou, Hai-Mei Zhao, Hai-Yan Wang, Duan-Yong Liu, Formula-Pattern Research Center, Jiangxi University of Chinese Medicine, Nanchang 330004, Jiangxi Province, China
Author contributions: Wei SY and Wu TT contributed equally to this work and should be regarded as co-first authors; Huang JQ, Zhong YB, Kang ZP, Wang MX, Zhou BG, Zhao HM, and Ge W performed the experiments; Liu DY and Wang HY contributed reagents/materials/analytical tools; Liu DY and Zhong YB analyzed the data; Wei SY, Wu TT, and Liu DY wrote the paper; Liu DY and Wang HY conceived and designed the experiments.
Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, No. 81760808; and Jiangxi University of Chinese Medicine Science and Technology Innovation Team Development Program, No. CXTD22008.
Institutional animal care and use committee statement: The study was reviewed and approved by the Jiangxi University of Chinese Medicine Animal Care and Use Committee and were performed in accordance with its prescribed guidelines (Approval No. JZLLSC2021-196).
Conflict-of-interest statement: There are no conflicts of interest to report.
Data sharing statement: No additional data are available.
ARRIVE guidelines statement: The authors have read the ARRIVE Guidelines, and the manuscript was prepared and revised according to the ARRIVE Guidelines.
Open-Access: This article is an open-access article that was selected by an in-house editor and fully peer-reviewed by external reviewers. It is distributed in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution NonCommercial (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:
https://creativecommons.org/Licenses/by-nc/4.0/ Corresponding author: Duan-Yong Liu, PhD, Director, Full Professor, Professor, Formula-Pattern Research Center, Jiangxi University of Chinese Medicine, No. 1688 Meiling Road, Nanchang 330004, Jiangxi Province, China. liuduanyong@163.com
Received: July 25, 2022
Peer-review started: July 25, 2022
First decision: August 19, 2022
Revised: August 20, 2022
Accepted: October 13, 2022
Article in press: October 13, 2022
Published online: October 28, 2022
ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS
Research background
Curcumin (Cur) has shown promising efficacy in experimental colitis mice and ulcerative colitis patients. Disturbance in memory B cells has been observed in various autoimmune diseases, including inflammatory bowel disease. However, few studies have explored whether Cur treatment of colitis is associated with memory B cells.
Research motivation
To the best of our knowledge, this is the first study to explore the mechanisms by which Cur regulates memory B cells in the treatment of experimental colitis.
Research objectives
To investigate whether Cur can alleviate experimental colitis induced by DSS through regulating memory B cells and Bcl-6-Syk-BLNK signaling.
Research methods
Cur (100 mg/kg/d) was intragastrically administered in mice with colitis induced by DSS for 14 consecutive days. The effect of Cur was evaluated by macroscopic and histological observation. The levels of memory B cell subgroups in mouse peripheral blood were detected by flow cytometry, and the levels of cytokines in colonic tissue homogenates were measured by using ELISA. The expression of Bcl-6, BLNK, and Syk was measured by Western blot analysis.
Research results
After mice were treated with Cur for 14 d, the body weight, colonic weight and length, colonic weight index, and histopathological injury were ameliorated. In colitis mice, the concentrations of IL-1β, IL-6, TNF-α, and IL-7A were significantly decreased, while the concentrations of anti-inflammatory cytokines IL-35 and IL-10 were obviously increased. Activation of memory B cell subsets in colitis mice was confirmed by a remarkable reduction in the expression of IgM+, IgG+, IgA+, FCRL5+, CD103+, FasL+, PD-1+, CD38+, and CXCR3+ on the surface of CD19+CD27+B cells, while the number of CD19+ CD27+ IL-10+ and CD19+CD27+ Tim-3+ B cells increased significantly. In addition, Cur observably decreased the protein levels of Syk, p-Syk, Bcl-6, and CIN85, and increased BLNK and p-BLNK expression in colitis mice.
Research conclusions
Cur could effectively alleviate DSS-induced colitis in mice, which is realized via a potential mechanism involving memory B cells and the Bcl-6-Syk-BLNK signaling pathway.
Research perspectives
In the present study, Cur effectively ameliorated the pathological colonic injury induced by DSS, which was achieved through a potential mechanism involving regulating the balance of memory B cells and activating the Bcl-6-Syk-BLNK signaling pathway.
