Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic, systemic inflammatory disorder that may affect many tissues and organs but principally attacks synovial joints. All the symptoms of RA are mainly caused by cell inflammation, which results in cellular infiltration and synovial hyperplasia, finally leading to severe bone erosion. Existing drugs (steroids, non-steroid antiinflammatory drugs, disease-modifying anti-rheumatic drugs, etc.) can attenuate the symptoms of RA; however, these drugs also have many side effects. Therefore, it is necessary to discover new drugs for RA. Excavatolide B (Exc-B) is derived from the gorgonian coral. In our preliminary observations, Exc-B strongly inhibited lipopolysaccharide (LPS)-induced proinflammatory inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) and cyclooxygenase-2 (COX-2) protein expression in RAW264.7 macrophages. The present study also showed that Exc-B significantly attenuates the expressions of osteoclast-like gene, cathepsin K, and matrix metalloproteinase (MMP)-9 in LPS-treated RAW 264.7 cells. Moreover, in the adjuvant-induced RA animal model, Exc-B effectively reduced the swelling and arthritic index from the morphological viewpoint as well as reduced bone erosion and synovial hyperplasia from the pathological viewpoint. Our data indicates that Exc-B can inhibit disease progression in RA. Hence, Exc-B may serve as a useful therapeutic agent for the treatment of RA.
| Identifer | oai:union.ndltd.org:NSYSU/oai:NSYSU:etd-0719110-213155 |
| Date | 19 July 2010 |
| Creators | Sun, Yu-min |
| Contributors | Ming-hong Tai, Zhi-hong Wen, Yen-hsuan Jean |
| Publisher | NSYSU |
| Source Sets | NSYSU Electronic Thesis and Dissertation Archive |
| Language | Cholon |
| Detected Language | English |
| Type | text |
| Format | application/pdf |
| Source | http://etd.lib.nsysu.edu.tw/ETD-db/ETD-search/view_etd?URN=etd-0719110-213155 |
| Rights | not_available, Copyright information available at source archive |
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