The role of heme oxygenase and carbon monoxide in inflammatory bowel disease.
Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), including ulcerative colitis (UC) and Crohn's disease, is a chronic and recurrent inflammatory disorder of the intestinal tract. Since the precise pathogenesis of IBD remains unclear, it is important to investigate the pathogenesis of IBD and to evaluate new anti-inflammatory strategies. Recent evidence suggests that heme oxygenase-1 (HO-1) plays a critical protective role during the development of intestinal inflammation. In fact, it has been demonstrated that the activation of HO-1 may act as an endogenous defensive mechanism to reduce inflammation and tissue injury in various animal intestinal injury models induced by ischemia-reperfusion, indomethacin, lipopolysaccharide-associated sepsis, trinitrobenzene sulfonic acid or dextran sulfate sodium. In addition, carbon monoxide (CO) derived from HO-1 has been shown to be involved in the regulation of intestinal inflammation. Furthermore, administration of a low concentration of exogenous CO has a protective effect against intestinal inflammation. These data suggest that HO-1 and CO may be novel therapeutic molecules for patients with gastrointestinal inflammatory diseases. In this review, we present what is currently known regarding the role of HO-1 and CO in intestinal inflammation.
Molecular Gastroenterology and Hepatology, Graduate School of Medical Science, Kyoto Prefectural University of Medicine, Kyoto, Japan.
Tomohisa
T
Takagi
Yuji
Y
Naito
Kazuhiko
K
Uchiyama
Toshikazu
T
Yoshikawa
D000818:Animals; D002248:Carbon Monoxide / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D004195:Disease Models, Animal; D004789:Enzyme Activation; D041981:Gastrointestinal Tract / Q000033:anatomy & histology / Q000201:enzymology / Q000276:immunology / Q000473:pathology; D006419:Heme Oxygenase (Decyclizing) / Q000378:metabolism / Q000627:therapeutic use*; D006801:Humans; D015212:Inflammatory Bowel Diseases / Q000473:pathology / Q000503:physiopathology / Q000628:therapy; D007527:Isoenzymes / Q000378:metabolism
D007527:Isoenzymes; D002248:Carbon Monoxide; D006419:Heme Oxygenase (Decyclizing)