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©The Author(s) 2023. Published by Baishideng Publishing Group Inc. All rights reserved.
Curcumin alleviated dextran sulfate sodium-induced colitis by recovering memory Th/Tfh subset balance
Lin-Xin Zheng, Kai-En Guo, Jia-Qi Huang, Miao-Hua Liu, Bai-Ling Deng, Duan-Yong Liu, Bu-Gao Zhou, Wen Zhou, You-Bao Zhong, Hai-Mei Zhao
Lin-Xin Zheng, Kai-En Guo, Jia-Qi Huang, Miao-Hua Liu, Department of Postgraduate, Jiangxi University of Chinese Medicine, Nanchang 330004, Jiangxi Province, China
Bai-Ling Deng, Hai-Mei Zhao, College of Traditional Chinese Medicine, Jiangxi University of Chinese Medicine, Nanchang 330004, Jiangxi Province, China
Duan-Yong Liu, Bu-Gao Zhou, Formula-Pattern Research Center, Jiangxi University of Chinese Medicine, Nanchang 330004, Jiangxi Province, China
Wen Zhou, Nanchang Medical College, Nanchang 330052, Jiangxi Province, China
You-Bao Zhong, Laboratory Animal Research Center for Science and Technology, Jiangxi University of Chinese Medicine, Nanchang 330004, Jiangxi Province, China
Author contributions: Zheng LX, Guo KE, Huang JQ, Liu MH, Deng BL, Liu DY, and Zhou BG performed the experiments; Zhou W and Zhao HM contributed reagents/materials/analytical tools; Zhao HM, Liu DY, and Zhong YB analyzed the data; Zheng LX, Guo KE, and Zhong YB wrote the paper; Zhou W, Zhong YB, and Zhao HM designed the experiments.
Supported by the National Natural Science Foundation of China, No. 81760808 and No. 82260863; Scientific and Technological Project of Education Department of Jiangxi Province, No. GJJ181582; Jiangxi University of Chinese Medicine Science and Technology Innovation Team Development Program, No. CXTD22008; and Key Laboratory of Pharmacodynamics and Quality Evaluation on anti-Inflammatory Chinese Herbs, Jiangxi Administration of Traditional Chinese Medicine, No. 202208.
Institutional animal care and use committee statement: All procedures involving animals were reviewed and approved by the Experimental Animal Science and Technology Center of Jiangxi University of Traditional Chinese Medicine (Approval No. JZLLSC2021-196).
Conflict-of-interest statement: The authors declare no conflicts of interest.
Data sharing statement: The data presented in this study are available from the corresponding author upon reasonable request.
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: Wen Zhou, MD, Associate Professor, Nanchang Medical College, No. 689 Huiren Road, Nanchang 330052, Jiangxi Province, China. zw1103380809@163.com
Received: August 16, 2023
Peer-review started: August 16, 2023
First decision: August 25, 2023
Revised: August 26, 2023
Accepted: September 7, 2023
Article in press: September 7, 2023
Published online: September 28, 2023
ARTICLE HIGHLIGHTS
Research background
Maintaining immune homeostasis by targeting memory immune cells is a crucial treatment strategy for autoimmune diseases. Discovering new drugs from natural plant medicine and traditional Chinese medicine to treat inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a research hotspot. Many researches had shown that curcumin (Cur) can effectively treat patients and animals with ulcerative colitis (UC). Although Cur can regulate the function of immune cells to alleviate UC in mice, whether Cur can regulate the memory T helper (mTh) cell- and memory follicular T helper (mTfh) cell-mediated homeostasis to treat IBD remains unknown.
Research motivation
To further widen the category of the immunopharmacological action of Cur and supply increasing scientific evidence for promoting the clinical application of Cur in IBD treatment.
Research objectives
To explore the potential mechanism underlying Cur-mediated alleviation of dextran sulfate sodium (DSS)-induced colonic pathological damage by observing changes in mTh and mTfh cells and their subsets and function.
Research methods
DSS was used to induce experimental colitis, and colitis was treated with Cur for 7 consecutive days. The therapeutic effect of Cur was evaluated through macroscopic and microscopic observations. The levels of mTh and mTfh cells and their subsets were detected through flow cytometry. SOCS-1, SOCS-3, STAT3, p-STAT3, JAK1, p-JAK1, and NF-κB p65 protein expression levels were measured through Western blotting.
Research results
Cur effectively alleviates DSS-induced colitis in mice, promotes the recovery of mouse weight and colonic length, and reduces colonic weight and the colonic weight index. Meanwhile, Cur inhibits ulcer formation and inflammatory cell infiltration in the colonic mucosa. The percentage of Th1, mTh1, Th7, mTh7, Th17, mTh17, Tfh1, mTfh1, Tfh7, mTfh7, Tfh17, and mTfh17 cells decreased after the mice with colitis were treated with Cur for 7 d, whereas the frequency of mTh10, Th10, mTfh10, and Tfh10 cells in the spleen of these mice increased. Additional studies revealed that the SOCS-1, SOCS-3, STAT3, p-STAT3, JAK1, p-JAK1, and NF-κB p65 protein expression levels significantly decreased in the colon tissue after Cur administration.
Research conclusions
Cur effectively alleviated DSS-induced colitis in mice by regulating mTh/Tfh cells, which was potentially realized by inhibiting the JAK1/STAT3/SOCS signaling pathway.
Research perspectives
Cur is a commonly used food additive and the main effective constituent of traditional Chinese medicine. Cur regulates the immune homeostasis mediated by memory T and B cells. This is a very promising and significant effect of Cur that can be used to develop the value of Cur as a healthcare product for preventing many chronic and recurrent diseases.
