title: Protosappanin A induces immunosuppression of rats heart transplantation targeting T cells in grafts via NF-kappaB pathway.
abstract: Protosappanin A as one major and effective ingredient from Caesalpinia sappan L. exhibited antirejection activity obviously in heart-transplanted rat. The present study was designed to screen out the potential target genes of protosappanin A with microarray technology and reveal some molecular mechanism of immunosuppressive effect. Rats performed with ectopic peritoneal heart transplantation were randomized into three groups receiving different treatments for 7 days: protosappanin A group (25 mg kg(-1)), cyclosporine A group (10 mg kg(-1)), and control group. The differentially expressed genes responding to protosappanin A were analyzed with microarrays. Among common differentially expressed genes, the ones of interest were selected for further evaluation by real-time quantitative reverse transcriptase polymerase chain reaction (qRT-PCR), Western blot, immunochemistry, immunofluorescence, and ELISA. Among the 146 common differentially expressed genes, NF-kappaB and related genes like IkappaBa, IFN-r, and IP10 were selected for verification. The results of qRT-PCR, Western blot, immunochemistry, and ELISA showed that protosappanin A significantly reduced the expression of NF-kappaB, IFN-r, and IP10 (p < 0.05) and increased IkappaBa expression (p < 0.05) in graft. Moreover, the immunochemistry staining of NF-kappaB and IkappaBa was mainly observed in infiltrating mononuclear cells. Strikingly, immunofluorescent staining localized NF-kappaB to the TCR-positive T cells in graft. Furthermore, protosappanin A exhibited inhibitory effect on T cell proliferation in recipients after 7-day treatment. In conclusion, protosappanin A might act on T cells through inhibiting NF-kappaB activation and downstream gene expressions of IFN-r and IP10, meanwhile reducing T cell proliferation responding to alloantigen, so as to induce immunosuppressive effect. The results encourage a potential therapeutic evaluation of protosappanin A for clinical organ transplantation or other T cell-mediated immune disorders. Additionally, our study also verified the feasibility of microarray utilization in Chinese herb research to explore molecular mechanism and promote development of scientific theories.
authors.affiliation: Department of Cardiology, The Second Affiliated Hospital of Harbin Medical University, Harbin, Heilongjiang Province, China.
authors.forename: Jian
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Wu
authors.forename: Maomao
authors.initials: M
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Haibo
authors.initials: H
authors.lastname: Jia
authors.forename: Xingtao
authors.initials: X
authors.lastname: Huang
authors.forename: Qi
authors.initials: Q
authors.lastname: Zhang
authors.forename: Jingbo
authors.initials: J
authors.lastname: Hou
authors.forename: Yu
authors.initials: Y
authors.lastname: Bo
mesh_terms: D000818:Animals; D029911:Caesalpinia; D016503:Drug Delivery Systems / Q000379:methods; D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal / Q000008:administration & dosage; D006085:Graft Survival / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000276:immunology; D016027:Heart Transplantation / Q000276:immunology* / Q000473:pathology*; D007166:Immunosuppressive Agents / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D008297:Male; D016328:NF-kappa B / Q000037:antagonists & inhibitors* / Q000502:physiology*; D010636:Phenols / Q000008:administration & dosage*; D051381:Rats; D017207:Rats, Sprague-Dawley; D017208:Rats, Wistar; D015398:Signal Transduction / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000276:immunology; D013601:T-Lymphocytes / Q000187:drug effects* / Q000276:immunology / Q000378:metabolism
chemical_list: D004365:Drugs, Chinese Herbal; D007166:Immunosuppressive Agents; D016328:NF-kappa B; D010636:Phenols; C090723:protosappanin A