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Background: Excessive growth of keratinocytes is the critical event in the etiology of psoriasis. However, the underlying molecular mechanism of psoriatic keratinocyte hyperproliferation is still unclear., Objective: This study aimed to figure out the potential contributory role of S-phase kinase-associated protein 2 (SKP2) in promoting the hyperproliferation of keratinocytes in psoriasis., Methods: We analyzed microarray data (GSE41662) to investigate the gene expression of SKP2 in psoriatic lesion skins compared with their adjacent non-lesional skin. Then, we further confirmed the mRNA and protein expression of SKP2 in human psoriatic skin tissues, imiquimod (IMQ)-induced psoriatic mice back skins and tumor necrosis factor α (TNF-α), interleukin (IL)-17A and IL-6-stimulated keratinocytes by using real-time quantitative polymerase chain reaction and western blot (WB). Furthermore, we explored the potential pathogenic role and its underlying cellular mechanism of SKP2 in promoting keratinocytes hyperproliferation through 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide assay, cell cycle detection, 5-ethynyl-2'-deoxyuridine staining and WB. Finally, we determined whether inhibition of SKP2 can effectively alleviate the keratinocytes hyperproliferation in vivo ., Results: We identified that SKP2 is aberrantly upregulated in the psoriatic lesion skin and cytokines-stimulated keratinocytes. Moreover, upregulated SKP2 augments cytokines-induced keratinocytes hyperproliferation. Mechanistically, enhanced SKP2 increased the S phase ratio through inhibiting Cyclin-Dependent Kinase Inhibitor p27 (P27 Kip1) expression. Correspondingly, suppression of SKP2 with SMIP004 can significantly ease the epidermis hyperplasia in vivo ., Conclusion: Our results suggest that elevated SKP2 can empower keratinocytes proliferation and psoriasis-like epidermis hyperplasia via downregulation of P27 Kip1. Therefore, targeting SKP2-P27 Kip1 axis might be a promising therapeutic strategy for the treatment of psoriasis in future., Competing Interests: The authors have nothing to disclose., (© 2024 The Korean Dermatological Association and The Korean Society for Investigative Dermatology.)

Langerhans cells (LCs) play a critical role in skin immune responses and the development of psoriasis. Yinxieling (YXL) is a representative Chinese herbal medicine for the treatment of psoriasis in South China. It was found to improve psoriasis without obvious side effects in the clinic. Here we attempted to clarify whether and how YXL regulates the differentiation and functions of LCs in Imiquimod (IMQ)-induced psoriasis in vivo and induced LCs in vitro. The Psoriasis Area Severity Index (PASI) score was used to evaluate the efficacy of YXL for IMQ-induced psoriasis-like mice. Flow cytometry was utilized to analyze the effects of YXL, to regulate the differentiation, migration, maturation, and antigen presentation of LCs. The results show that YXL significantly alleviated skin inflammation, as reduced in PASI score and classic psoriasis characteristics in pathological sections. Although there was no effect on the proportion of total DCs in the skin-draining lymph nodes, the expression of epidermal LCs and its transcription factor PU.1 were both markedly inhibited. LCs were also prevented from migrating from epidermal to skin-draining lymph nodes and mature. In addition, the number of LCs carrying antigens in the epidermis increased, which suggested that YXL could effectively prevent LCs from presenting antigens. In vitro, YXL had a significant impact on inhibiting the differentiation of LCs. Further data showed that YXL decreased the relative expression of transforming growth factor-β (TGFβ) messenger RNA (mRNA) and interleukin-23 (IL-23) mRNAs. Thus, YXL alleviates psoriasis by regulating differentiation, migration, maturation, and antigen presentation via the TGFβ/PU.1/IL-23 signal axis., (© 2024 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Psoriasis is a chronic inflammatory skin disorder characterized by abnormal keratinocytes proliferation and multiple immune cells infiltration in the dermis and epidermis. Although most psoriasis-related researches have been concentrated on the interleukin-23 (IL-23)/interleukin-17 (IL-17) axis, new data suggest that keratinocytes also play a pivotal role in psoriasis. Previously, we found that punicalagin (PUN), a bioactive ellagitannin extracted from Pericarpium Granati (the pericarpium of Punica granatum L.), exerts a therapeutic effect on psoriasis. However, the underlying mechanism, especially its potential modulatory effect on keratinocytes, remains obscure. Our study aims to reveal the potential regulatory effect and its underlying cellular mechanism of PUN on the hyperproliferation of keratinocytes. We used tumor necrosis factor α (TNF-α), IL-17A and interleukin-6 (IL-6) to induce abnormal proliferation of HaCaT cells (Human Keratinocytes Cells) in vitro. Then, we evaluated the effects of PUN through MTT assay, EdU staining and cell cycle detection. Finally, we explored the underlying cellular mechanisms of PUN via RNA-sequencing, WB in vitro and in vivo. Here, we found that PUN can directly and dose-dependently decrease TNF-α, IL-17A and IL-6-induced abnormal proliferation of HaCaT cells in vitro. Mechanically, PUN suppresses the hyperproliferation of keratinocytes through repressing S-phase kinase-associated protein 2 (SKP2) expression in vitro and in vivo. Moreover, overexpression of SKP2 can partly abolish PUN-mediated inhibition of aberrantly proliferative keratinocytes. These results illustrate that PUN can reduce the severity of psoriasis through directly repressing SKP2-mediated abnormal proliferation of keratinocytes, which gives new insight into the therapeutic mechanism of PUN on psoriasis. Moreover, these findings imply that PUN might be a promising drug candidate for the treatment of psoriasis., (© 2023. The Author(s) under exclusive licence to The Japanese Society of Pharmacognosy.)

Background: Radix Scutellariae (RS) has been used to treat influenza for thousands of years in China. However, its mechanisms of action remain unclear. The aim of the present study was to use a network pharmacology and molecular docking-based approach to explore active components and potential molecular mechanisms of RS for influenza A., Methods: Target genes of RS and influenza A were attained by accessing network databases. We then determined the intersection of both genes through bioinformatics using R and Perl language. The protein-protein interaction (PPI) network was constructed by the STRING website (https://cn.string-db.org). The network analysis was done using Cytoscape software. Gene Ontology (GO) and Kyoto Encyclopedia of Genes and Genomes (KEGG) were applied for the above genes. Effective components as core targets were screened out based on the condition that the interaction must come first. These core targets were combined with 3D structures of main RNA coding proteins of influenza A virus. Molecular docking was used to visualize drug-target interaction via AutoDock Vina and PyMOL., Results: Twenty-eight active components and 40 target genes were acquired through the regulatory network of active components of RS and the PPI network. Seventy-one bioinformatics expressions were obtained through GO enrichment analysis (P<0.05). A total of 124 signaling pathways were screened by KEGG enrichment analysis (P<0.05). Acacetin, wogonin, baicalein, oroxylin A, and beta-sitosterol, which are rich in RS, are closely related to hemagglutinin (HA), NeurAminidase (NA), nucleoprotein (NP), polymerase basic protein 1 (PB1), polymerase basic protein 2 (PB2), polymerase acidic (PA), matrix protein 1 (M1), matrix protein 2 (M2), and non-structural protein (NS), which are the main RNA coding proteins of influenza A virus. The binding energies of these 8 proteins were less than -5 kJ/mol, indicating that the ligands had strong affinity with receptor proteins., Conclusions: RS is rich in core target compounds, and its mechanism of action is further expressed. It could have a good therapeutic effect for influenza A through multi-compound and multi-target regulation of these specific protein targets, and targets and pathways related to immunity and inflammation., Competing Interests: Conflicts of Interest: All authors have completed the ICMJE uniform disclosure form (available at https://atm.amegroups.com/article/view/10.21037/atm-22-1176/coif). The authors have no conflicts of interest to declare., (2022 Annals of Translational Medicine. All rights reserved.)

Atherosclerosis (AS) is a type of chronic vascular disease, and its etiology is not yet fully understood. AS is characterized by lipid deposition, atherosclerotic plaque formation, vascular stenosis or even complete blockage of the blood vessel wall. Clinical studies have shown that Danlou tablets (DLTs) can improve the heart function, quality of life, and prognosis of patients with coronary heart disease and myocardial infarction. However, its mechanism of action remains unknown. Our study revealed that DLTs ameliorated ApoE -/- AS mouse aortic atherosclerotic plaques [hematoxylin-eosin (HE) staining and small animal ultrasound] and reduced CD68 + macrophage infiltration, the expression of the inflammatory factor interferon-gamma (IFN-γ), vascular smooth muscle α-actin, and serum lipid levels. In vitro , in the macrophage foaming model, DLTs partially restored the activity of RAW264.7 cells, reduced the uptake of lipid droplets, and inhibited lipid droplet accumulation and apoptosis within BMDMs. We also found that Torin1, an autophagy agonist, reduced intracellular lipid deposition in BMDMs, as did DLTs. Moreover, DLTs upregulated the expression of the autophagy-related protein LC3II and decreased p62 accumulation in RAW264.7 cells. DLTs also inhibited the phosphorylation of p-PI3K, p-Akt, and p-mTOR, leading to upregulated autophagy in RAW264.7 cells. In summary, our results suggested that DLTs can promote autophagy in macrophages by inhibiting the PI3K/Akt/mTOR signaling pathway, thereby reducing foam cell formation and improving atherosclerosis., Competing Interests: The authors declare that the research was conducted in the absence of any commercial or financial relationships that could be construed as a potential conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2021 Liu, Chen, Chen, Dang, Nie, Wu, Li, Chen, Yang, He, Li, Sun, Lu and Wang.)

IL-23/Th17 (IL-17) axis plays a critical role in psoriasis. Rosmarinic acid (RA) was proved the inhibitory effect of T cell infiltration in the skin. However, whether and how RA has beneficial effects on psoriasis did not really know yet. So lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced abnormal proliferation Hacat cell line and Imiquimod (IMQ)-induced psoriasis-like mouse dermatitis were used to assess the pharmacological effects and mechanisms of RA by Psoriasis Area Severity Index (PASI) score, histopathology, flow cytometry, reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) and western blotting. The results showed that RA inhibited LPS-induced aberrant expression of Hacat cell line, and significantly alleviated IMQ-induced skin inflammation. Although RA had no obviously effect on the ratio of epidermal Langerhans cell (LC) and LC migration from the skin to the skin draining lymph nodes, RA inhibited the expression of IL-23 in skin lesions, as well as reduced the differentiation of Th17 cells and producing of IL-17A by down regulating the transcriptor factor RORγt and JAK2/Stat3 signal pathway, comparing to IMQ treated group. The findings suggest that RA inhibits psoriasis-like skin inflammation in vivo and in vitro by reducing the expression of IL-23, inhibiting Th17 dominated inflammation and down regulating the Jak2/Stat3 signal pathway., (© 2021 John Wiley & Sons Ltd.)

Background: Recent studies have shown that patients with psoriasis, a chronic inflammatory skin disorder that may accompany the serious systemic disease, are at risk of developing sudden sensorineural hearing loss. The pathogenesis remains unclear, and the mechanisms of this disorder are difficult to explore in the clinical setting due to psoriasis hearing loss's infrequent incidence. Here, we aimed to identify key candidate genes that may be involved in the pathogenesis of psoriatic hearing loss., Methods: In the present study, through online databases and literature review, we utilized microRNA-mRNA network analysis and gene ontology annotation analysis, coupled with experimental data from clinical samples, to investigate the relationship between psoriasis and hearing loss., Results: We identified nine miRNAs implicated in both psoriasis and the auditory system. By using bioinformatics techniques, 12 target genes were identified. Finally, the gap junction beta-2 protein (GJB2) was found to be relevant to both psoriasis and hearing loss. Also, the expression of connexin 26 (Cx26), encoded by GJB2, was significantly downregulated in psoriatic patients' plasma (p < 0.0001) and was negatively correlated with psoriasis area and severity index (PASI) clinical score (r, -0.286; p = 0.036)., Conclusion: GJB2 is a potential candidate gene for hearing loss in psoriasis., (Copyright© Bentham Science Publishers; For any queries, please email at epub@benthamscience.net.)

Psoriasis is a T cells mediated chronic skin inflammation in which helper T (Th) cells play in critical roles in its pathogenesis. Taxifolin (TXL) has been discovered to exert various pharmacological activities. In this study, we wished to observe whether TXL had potential activities on psoriasis, and how it works. We found that TXL can inhibit LPS-induced abnormal proliferation in Hacat cell line, ant also significantly alleviate the IMQ-induced psoriasis in BALB/c mice, comparing with the control group. Although TXL has no significant effects on the ratio of total T cells in skin draining lymph nodes (SDLN), it decreases the ratio of pro-inflammatory Th1 and Th17 cells, both in skin lesions and SDLN. Our results also disclosed that TXL may regulate Th cells differentiation by inhibiting the transcript factors, including T-bet, GATA-3 and RORγt. Further data show that TXL can inhibit Notch1 and Jak2/Stat3 signal pathways. In summary, TXL may be able to treat psoriasis by regulating Th cells differentiation via inhibiting Notch1 and Jak2/Stat3 pathways., Competing Interests: Declaration of Competing Interest The authors declare no conflict of interest., (Copyright © 2019 The Author(s). Published by Elsevier Masson SAS.. All rights reserved.)

Maspin (SerpinB5) is an epithelial-specific tumor suppressor gene product that displays context-dependent cellular functions. Maspin-deficient mouse models created to date have not definitively established maspin functions critical for cancer suppression. In this study, we generated a mouse strain in which exon 4 of the Maspin gene was deleted, confirming its essential role in development but also enabling a breeding scheme to bypass embryonic lethality. Phenotypic characterization of this viable strain established that maspin deficiency was associated with a reduction in maximum body weight and a variety of context-dependent epithelial abnormalities. Specifically, maspin-deficient mice exhibited pulmonary adenocarcinoma, myoepithelial hyperplasia of the mammary gland, hyperplasia of luminal cells of dorsolateral and anterior prostate, and atrophy of luminal cells of ventral prostate and stratum spinosum of epidermis. These cancer phenotypes were accompanied by increased inflammatory stroma. These mice also displayed the autoimmune disorder alopecia aerate. Overall, our findings defined context-specific tumor suppressor roles for maspin in a clinically relevant model to study maspin functions in cancer and other pathologies. Cancer Res; 77(4); 886-96. ©2017 AACR ., (©2016 American Association for Cancer Research.)

The Chinese drug pair Danshen (Salvia miltiorrhiza)-Sanqi (Panax ginseng) has been widely used for centuries treating various cardiovascular disorders, among which salvianlic acid B (SAB), ginsenoside Rg 1 (GRg 1 ), ginsenoside Rb 1 (GRb 1 ) and notoginsenoside R 1 (NGR 1 ) were identified as the major components. The present study focused on the interaction between these components based on investigating their intestinal absorption using the Ussing chamber technique. The concentrations of SAB, GRg 1 , GRb1 and NGR 1 in the intestinal perfusate were determined by LC-MS/MS method, followed by Q (accumulative quantity) and P app (apparent permeability). The results showed that all these four main components displayed very low permeabilities, which implied their poor absorption in the rat intestine. The intestinal absorption level of SAB displayed regioselectivity: duodenum < jejunum < ileum. However, there was no significant difference in the absorption of GRg 1 and GRb 1 in the different segments. The Q and P app values of the four main components were obviously increased in jejunum when co-administrating Danshen extract with Sanqi extract. In conclusion, compatibility of Danshen and Sanqi could remarkably improve the intestinal absorption level of the main components in the pair. To some extent, this might explain the nature of the compatibility mechanisms of composite formulae in TCMs., (Copyright © 2016 John Wiley & Sons, Ltd.)

Tonifying herbs and evil expelling herbs of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) for chronic kidney diseases in molecular level were studied by computer aided drug design, including analysis of molecular similarity, predictive ADME simulation and predictive toxic simulation. It was found that this technology could distinguish the structure diversity of compounds from TCM, and screen the lead compounds rapidly.