cytellin and Arthritis--Rheumatoid

The effects of a strict uncooked vegan diet on serum lipid and sterol concentrations were studied in patients with rheumatoid arthritis. The subjects were randomized into a vegan diet group (n 16), who consumed a vegan diet for 2-3 months, or into a control group (n 13), who continued their usual omnivorous diets. Serum total and LDL-cholesterol and -phospholipid concentrations were significantly decreased by the vegan diet. The levels of serum cholestanol and lathosterol also decreased, but serum cholestanol:total cholesterol and lathosterol:total cholesterol did not change. The effect of a vegan diet on serum plant sterols was divergent as the concentration of campesterol decreased while that of sitosterol increased. This effect resulted in a significantly greater sitosterol:campesterol value in the vegan diet group than in the control group (1.48 (SD 0.39) v. 0.72 (SD 0.14); P < 0.001). A higher concentration of campesterol compared with sitosterol is normal in omnivorous subjects and can be explained by lower absorption and esterification rates of sitosterol. Our results suggest that a strict uncooked vegan diet changes the relative absorption rates of these sterols and/or their biliary clearance.

Topics: Arthritis, Rheumatoid; Cholestanol; Cholesterol; Cholesterol, HDL; Cholesterol, LDL; Diet, Vegetarian; Female; Humans; Middle Aged; Phospholipids; Phytosterols; Sitosterols; Statistics, Nonparametric; Sterols

Topics: Administration, Oral; Adult; Arthritis, Rheumatoid; Female; Humans; India; Male; Medicine, Traditional; Plant Extracts; Plants, Medicinal; Prospective Studies; Sitosterols

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic disease with complex molecular network of pathophysiology, single drug is usually not full satisfactory because it is almost impossible to target the whole molecular network of the disease. Drug combinations that act synergistically with each another is an effective strategy in RA therapy. In this study, we aimed to establish a new strategy to search effective synergized compounds from Chinese herbal medicine (CHM) used in RA. Based on multi-information integrative approaches, imperatorin (IMP) and β-sitosterol (STO) were predicted as the most effective pair for RA therapy. Further animal experiments demonstrated that IMP+STO treatment ameliorated arthritis severity of collagen-induced arthritis (CIA) rats in a synergistic manner, whereas IMP or STO administration separately had no such effect. RNA sequencing and IPA analysis revealed that the synergistic mechanism of IMP+STO treatment was related to its regulatory effect on 5 canonical signaling pathways, which were not found when IMP or STO used alone. Moreover, LTA, CD83, and SREBF1 were 3 important targets for synergistic mechanism of IMP+STO treatment. The levels of these 3 genes were significantly up-regulated in IMP+STO group compared to model group, whereas IMP or STO administration separately had no effect on them. In conclusion, this study found that IMP and STO were 2 synergistic compounds from the CHM in RA therapy, whose synergistic mechanism was closely related to regulate the levels of LTA, CD83, and SREBF1.

Topics: Animals; Arthritis, Experimental; Arthritis, Rheumatoid; CD4-Positive T-Lymphocytes; Computational Biology; Disease Models, Animal; Drug Synergism; Drugs, Chinese Herbal; Furocoumarins; Male; Phytotherapy; Rats; Severity of Illness Index; Signal Transduction; Sitosterols

Topics: Animals; Arthritis, Rheumatoid; Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; Drug Carriers; Freund's Adjuvant; Heme Oxygenase (Decyclizing); Hypolipidemic Agents; Male; Nanoparticles; NF-E2-Related Factor 2; NF-kappa B; Rats; Rats, Wistar; Signal Transduction; Sitosterols

Topics: Adult; Aged; Arthritis, Rheumatoid; Cortisone; Dose-Response Relationship, Drug; Drug Therapy, Combination; Female; Humans; Immunosuppressive Agents; Male; Middle Aged; Sitosterols

Topics: Anti-Inflammatory Agents; Arthritis, Rheumatoid; Humans; Sitosterols