Academics at Jiangxi University assessed if curcumin could represent a viable treatment alternative or adjunctive therapy in the management of chronic inflammatory bowel disease.
Writing in the journal Frontiers of Pharmacology, they reported their latest study found that he total number of DCs in colitis-induced mice was lower among those treated with curcumin.
In addition, curcumin was found to regulate costimulatory molecules, which are specific markers of mature DCs, as well as cytokine expression in colonic tissues.
“In the development of DCs, the expression of cytokines is indispensable to the microenvironment of maturation,” wrote the researchers.
Their work explored the mechanism of curcumin treated experimental colitis by observing activation of DCs via the JAK/STAT/SOCS signalling pathway.
“Experimental colitis was induced by 2, 4, 6-trinitrobenzene sulfonic acid (TNBS). After seven days treatment with curcumin, its therapeutic effect was verified by decreased colonic weight, histological scores, and remitting pathological injury,” they wrote.
Reduced inflammation
Thirty-two mice were randomly assigned to four groups with eight mice in each group: the normal group, the TNBS group, the TNBS and curcumin group, and the TNBS and mesalazine group. Mesalazine is an anti-inflammatory drug used to treat inflammatory bowel disease
“Treatment with curcumin and mesalazine restrained…pathological symptoms and histo-progressive restoration, reduced inflammatory cell infiltration in the mucosa and submucosa, and maintained the integrity of colonic mucosa,” the researchers reported.
While ulceration, hyperaemia, and edema in local colonic mucosa were observed in mice without treatment, these conditions were considerably better in colitis mice treated with curcumin and mesalazine.
The researchers added: “All results demonstrated that curcumin effectively treated experimental colitis.”
They concluded that curcumin suppressed the activation of DCs by modulating the JAK/STAT/SOCS signalling pathway to restore "immunologic balance and to treat experimental colitis in an effective manner."
“These results hinted that curcumin potentially prevent the chronicity of colitis. Certainly, the results should be verified repeatedly and explored [with reagrd to] their pathway in colitis treatment in the next work,” they added.
Source: Frontiers of Pharmacology.
https://doi.org/10.3389/fphar.2016.00455
“Curcumin Suppressed Activation of Dendritic Cells via JAK/STAT/SOCS Signal in Mice with Experimental Colitis”
Authors, Hai-Mei Zhao, et al.