Anti-arthritis effects of vitamin K(2) (menaquinone-4)--a new potential therapeutic strategy for rheumatoid arthritis.
Vitamin K(2) (menaquinone-4, MK-4) has been reported to induce apoptosis in hepatocellular carcinoma, leukemia and myelodysplastic syndrome cell lines. The effects of MK-4 on the development of arthritis have never been addressed thus far. In the present study, we investigated the effect of MK-4 upon the proliferation of rheumatoid synovial cells and the development of arthritis in collagen-induced arthritis. We analyzed the effect of MK-4 on the proliferation of fibroblast-like synoviocytes using the 3-(4,5-dimethylthiazol-2-yl)-2,5-diphenyltetrazolium bromide assay. The pro-apoptotic effect of MK-4 upon fibroblast-like synoviocytes was investigated with annexin V staining and DNA fragmentation and caspase 3/7 assays. Moreover, we analyzed the effect of MK-4 on the development of collagen-induced arthritis in female dark agouti rats. Our results indicated that MK-4 inhibited the proliferation of fibroblast-like synoviocytes and the development of collagen-induced arthritis in a dose-dependent manner. We conclude that MK-4 may represent a new agent for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis in the setting of combination therapy with other disease-modifying antirheumatic drugs.
Institute of Rheumatology, Tokyo Women's Medical University, Japan. hokamoto@ior.twmu.ac.jp
Hiroshi
H
Okamoto
Kumi
K
Shidara
Daisuke
D
Hoshi
Naoyuki
N
Kamatani
D000284:Administration, Oral; D000818:Animals; D017209:Apoptosis / Q000187:drug effects; D001172:Arthritis, Rheumatoid / Q000188:drug therapy*; D049109:Cell Proliferation / Q000187:drug effects; D005260:Female; D051381:Rats; D024482:Vitamin K 2 / Q000008:administration & dosage / Q000494:pharmacology / Q000627:therapeutic use*
D024482:Vitamin K 2