title: Ma Huang Tang Suppresses the Production and Expression of Inflammatory Chemokines via Downregulating STAT1 Phosphorylation in HaCaT Keratinocytes.
abstract: Ma huang tang (MHT) is a traditional herbal medicine comprising six medicinal herbs and is used to treat influenza-like illness. However, the effects of MHT on inflammatory skin diseases have not been verified scientifically. We investigated determining the inhibitory effects of MHT against inflammation responses in skin using HaCaT human keratinocyte cells. We found that MHT suppressed production of thymus and activation-regulated chemokine (TARC/CCL17), macrophage-derived chemokine (MDC/CCL22), regulated on activation of normal T-cell expressed and secreted (RANTES/CCL5), and interleukin-8 (IL-8) in tumor necrosis factor-α(TNF-α) and interferon-γ- (IFN-γ-) stimulated HaCaT cells. Consistently, MHT suppressed the mRNA expression of TARC, MDC, RANTES, and IL-8 in TNF-αand IFN-γ-stimulated cells. Additionally, MHT inhibited TNF-αand IFN-γ-stimulated signal transducer and activator of transcription 1 (STAT1) phosphorylation in a dose-dependent manner and nuclear translocation in HaCaT cells. Our finding indicates that MHT inhibits production and expression of inflammatory chemokines in the stimulated keratinocytes by downregulating STAT1 phosphorylation, suggesting that MHT may be a possible therapeutic agent for inflammatory skin diseases.
authors.affiliation: Herbal Medicine Research Division, Korea Institute of Oriental Medicine, Daejeon 34054, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Hye-Sun
authors.identifier: 0000-0001-5416-8827
authors.initials: HS
authors.lastname: Lim
authors.affiliation: K-herb Research Center, Korea Institute of Oriental Medicine, Daejeon 34054, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Chang-Seob
authors.identifier: 0000-0002-8156-446X
authors.initials: CS
authors.lastname: Seo
authors.affiliation: K-herb Research Center, Korea Institute of Oriental Medicine, Daejeon 34054, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Seong-Eun
authors.initials: SE
authors.lastname: Jin
authors.affiliation: K-herb Research Center, Korea Institute of Oriental Medicine, Daejeon 34054, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Sae-Rom
authors.identifier: 0000-0001-8731-2469
authors.initials: SR
authors.lastname: Yoo
authors.affiliation: K-herb Research Center, Korea Institute of Oriental Medicine, Daejeon 34054, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Mee-Young
authors.initials: MY
authors.lastname: Lee
authors.affiliation: K-herb Research Center, Korea Institute of Oriental Medicine, Daejeon 34054, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Hyeun-Kyoo
authors.identifier: 0000-0003-2319-6678
authors.initials: HK
authors.lastname: Shin
authors.affiliation: Herbal Medicine Research Division, Korea Institute of Oriental Medicine, Daejeon 34054, Republic of Korea; Korean Medicine Life Science, University of Science & Technology, Daejeon 34113, Republic of Korea.
authors.forename: Soo-Jin
authors.identifier: 0000-0001-6529-1767
authors.initials: SJ
authors.lastname: Jeong