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BMC Complementary Medicine and Therapies
Published in: BMC Complementary Medicine and Therapies 1/2014

Open Access 01-12-2014 | Research article

Dissection of the mechanism of traditional Chinese medical prescription-Yiqihuoxue formula as an effective anti-fibrotic treatment for systemic sclerosis

Authors: Ting Wu, Haiyan Chu, Wenzhen Tu, Mengmeng Song, Dongdong Chen, Jin Yuan, Ling Yu, Yanyun Ma, Qingmei Liu, Li Jin, Xiaodong Zhou, Hejian Zou, Wenyu Wu, Jiucun Wang

Published in: BMC Complementary Medicine and Therapies | Issue 1/2014

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Abstract

Background

Systemic sclerosis (SSc) is a connective tissue fibrotic disease for which there is no effective treatment. Traditional Chinese Medicine (TCM), such as the Yiqihuoxue formula used in Shanghai TCM-integrated Hospital, has shown the efficacy of anti-fibrosis in clinical applications. This study was aiming to dissect the anti-fibrotic mechanism of Yiqihuoxue treatment for SSc.

Methods

Bleomycin-induced mice and SSc dermal fibroblasts were treated with Yiqihuoxue decoction; NIH-3T3 fibroblasts were exposed to exogenous TGF-β1, and then cultured with or without Yiqihuoxue decoction. Luciferase reporter gene assay was used to determine the activity of Smad binding element (SBE). Quantitative reverse transcription-polymerase chain reaction (RT-PCR) was used to examine the mRNA levels of extracellular matrix (ECM) genes. The protein levels of type I collagen, Smad3 and phosphorylated-Smad3 (p-Smad3) were detected by western blotting. Student’s t-tests were used to determine the significance of the results.

Results

Bleomycin-induced mice, SSc dermal fibroblasts and TGF-β1-induced NIH/3T3 fibroblasts showed higher levels of ECM gene transcriptions and collagen production. In addition, the phosphorylation level of Smad3 and activity of SBE were significantly increased after exogenous TGF-β1 induction. Whereas, Yiqihuoxue treatment could obviously attenuate fibrosis in bleomycin-induced mice, down regulate ECM gene expressions and collagen production in SSc dermal fibroblasts and TGF-β1-induced NIH/3T3 fibroblasts. Furthermore, the aberrantly high phosphorylation level of Smad3 and activity of SBE in the TGF-β1-induced NIH/3T3 fibroblasts were also dramatically decreased by Yiqihuoxue treatment.

Conclusions

Yiqihuoxue treatment could effectively reduce collagen production via down-regulating the phosphorylation of Smad3 and then the activity of SBE, which are involved in the TGF-β pathway and constitutively activated in the progression of SSc.
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Metadata
Title
Dissection of the mechanism of traditional Chinese medical prescription-Yiqihuoxue formula as an effective anti-fibrotic treatment for systemic sclerosis
Authors
Ting Wu
Haiyan Chu
Wenzhen Tu
Mengmeng Song
Dongdong Chen
Jin Yuan
Ling Yu
Yanyun Ma
Qingmei Liu
Li Jin
Xiaodong Zhou
Hejian Zou
Wenyu Wu
Jiucun Wang
Publication date
01-12-2014
Publisher
BioMed Central
Published in
BMC Complementary Medicine and Therapies / Issue 1/2014
Electronic ISSN: 2662-7671
DOI
https://doi.org/10.1186/1472-6882-14-224

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