Sesquiterpenoid is a kind of compound widely distributed in nature, which has a wide range of biological activities, such as anti-inflammatory, anti-tumor and immunomodulatory activities. This paper would review the anti-inflammatory mechanism of sesquiterpenoid. The mechanism is mainly by inhibiting the activation of nuclear factor (NF-κB), mitogen-activated protein kinase (MAPKs) and signal transducers and activators of transcription (STAT) signaling pathways and down-regulating the inflammatory gene expression including tumor necrosis factor- (TNF-), prostaglandin E₂ (PGE₂), nitric oxide (NO), interleukin-1(IL-1), IL-6, IL-8 and other inflammatory factors. Thereby, the production and release of inflammatory cytokines are reduced to exert anti-inflammatory effect. This review is intended to provide reference for related research.
Anti-Inflammatory Agents ; pharmacology ; Dinoprostone ; Humans ; Interleukins ; MAP Kinase Signaling System ; NF-kappa B ; Nitric Oxide ; STAT Transcription Factors ; Sesquiterpenes ; pharmacology ; Signal Transduction ; Tumor Necrosis Factor-alpha

Angelicae Sinensis Radix, as a medicinal and edible Chinese medicinal herb, is widely used in clinical practice. It is mainly cultivated in Minxian, Tanchang, Zhangxian and Weiyuan counties of Gansu province. In recent years, with the comprehensive and in-depth study of Angelicae Sinensis Radix in China and abroad, its chemical composition, pharmacological effects and application and development have attracted much attention. In this study, the chemical composition, traditional efficacy, and modern pharmacological effects of Angelicae Sinensis Radix were summarized. On this basis, combined with the core concept of quality markers(Q-markers), the Q-markers of Angelicae Sinensis Radix were discussed from the aspects of mass transfer and traceability and chemical composition specificity, availability, and measurability, which provided scientific basis for the quality evaluation of Angelicae Sinensis Radix.
Angelica sinensis/chemistry* ; Drugs, Chinese Herbal/pharmacology* ; Plant Roots/chemistry* ; China

Angelicae Sinensis Radix， derived from a medicinal and edible plant Angelica sinensis， is one of the traditional bulk Chinese medicines. In addition to gynecological blood stagnation and deficiency， its indications also include dysmenorrhea， deficiency and cold-induced abdominal pain， and rheumatoid arthritis. With the in-depth study of Angelicae Sinensis Radix， its anti-inflammatory and analgesic activities have attracted widespread attention. However， there has been no systemic report. The present study comprehensively reviewed the anti-inflammatory and analgesic activities of Angelicae Sinensis Radix （including its compositions， extracts， and different processed products） and mechanisms published in recent 30 years. The anti-inflammatory effect of Angelicae Sinensis Radix was achieved mainly by blocking the expression of proteins and genes in nuclear factor-κB （NF-κB）， mitogen-activated protein kinases （MAPK）， and Janus kinase （JAK）/signal transducer and activator of transcription （STAT） signaling pathways， inhibiting the release of inflammatory mediators including tumor necrosis factor-α （TNF-α）， interleukin-6 （IL-6）， nitric oxide （NO）， prostaglandin E₂ （PGE₂） and IL-1β， and maintaining the high sensitivity of immune cells in the host to external stimuli. The mechanism of analgesic effect may be related to the suppression of the production of algesic substances （such as inflammatory factors and chemokines） or blocking of the amplification and transmission of pain perception in cascade reaction. Furthermore， the study also pointed out some problems in modern research and proposed suggestions on its future research to provide references for investigation and clinical applications of Angelicae Sinensis Radix.

Objective To investigate association between polymorphisms of the tumor necrosis factor α-induced protein 3 (TNFAIP3)interacting protein 1 (TNIP1)gene and systemic lupus erythematosus (SLE)in a Chinese Han population. Methods Blood samples were collected from 284 patients with SLE of Han nationality(SLE group)and 630 healthy controls of Han nationality (control group). Ligase detection reaction (LDR)was performed to determine the genotypes of 120 single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs)in the TNIP1 gene. Data were analyzed with the PLINK 1.07 package and Haploview software. Results After quality control, data on 105 SNPs underwent statistical analysis finally. Four SNPs including rs3805433, rs12516176, rs6869605 and rs4958882 in the TNIP1 gene were significantly associated with SLE (OR: 1.50 - 1.53, all P < 4.72 × 104), and there was a significant increase in the frequency of rs3805433 C, rs12516176 C, rs6869605 C and rs4958882 G alleles in the SLE group (0.301 - 0.306)compared with the control group (0.221 - 0.225). There was strong linkage disequilibrium between these 4 SNPs (r2 ≥ 0.871, D′ ≥ 0.938). In addition, moderate linkage disequilibrium was observed between these 4 SNPs and a previously reported SLE-related SNP rs10036748 (r2 ≥ 0.073, D′ ≥ 0.868). The frequency of the haplotype H2: CCCGT was significantly higher in the SLE group than in the control group(0.290 vs. 0.210, OR = 1.54, P < 4.72 × 10-4). Conclusion TNIP1 gene polymorphisms are associated with SLE in Chinese Han population.

Objective:To investigate the genetic correlation of interleukin-12 (IL-12) pathway-related gene single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) with psoriasis vulgaris and their interaction with HLA-Cw*0602 in populations of Mongolian and Han nationalities in Inner Mongolia.Methods:From December 2012 to March 2018, 1 409 inpatients with psoriasis vulgaris (1 030 of Han nationality and 379 of Mongo-lian nationality) and 1 483 healthy controls (965 of Han nationality and 518 of Mongolian nationality) were collected from the Affiliated Hospital of Inner Mongolia Medical University, and served as patient group and control group respectively. Five milliliters of peripheral venous blood samples were collected from these subjects, and DNA was extracted. Nine SNPs located in the coding regions of IL-12 pathway-related genes were selected, including IL-12B (rs2082412, rs2288831, rs3212227, rs3213094, rs7709212) , IL-23R (rs11209026, rs2201841, rs7530511) and IL-28RA (rs4649203) genes, and detected by next-generation sequencing. HLA-Cw*0602 was genotyped by polymerase chain reaction with sequence-specific primers (PCR-SSP) . Statistical analysis was carried out with PLINK1.07 software, Chi-square test was used to compare allele frequencies between the 2 groups, relative risk estimates of alleles were calculated by using odds ratio ( OR) , and chi-square test for R × C contingency tables was used for haplotype analysis. Results:The allele frequencies of rs2082412, rs2288831, rs3212227, rs3213094 and rs7709212 in the IL-12B gene were significantly lower in the patients with psoriasis vulgaris of Han nationality than in the controls of Han nationality (all P < 0.005) ; the allele frequency of rs3213094 in the IL-12B gene was significantly lower in the patients of Mongolian nationality than in the controls of Mongolian nationality ( P < 0.005) . The prevalence of HLA-Cw*0602 was significantly lower in the patients with psoriasis vulgaris of Han and Mongolian nationalities than in the controls of corresponding nationalities (both P < 0.005) . As stratification analysis showed, the allele frequencies of rs2082412, rs2288831, rs3212227, rs3213094 and rs7709212 in the IL-12B gene were significantly lower in HLA-Cw*0602-positive patients of Han nationality than in HLA-Cw*0602-positive controls of Han nationality (all P < 0.005) , while there was no significant difference between HLA-Cw*0602-negative patients of Han nationality and HLA-Cw*0602-negative controls of Han nationality (all P > 0.05) . Among the HLA-Cw*0602-positive or negative populations of Mongolian nationality, no significant difference was observed in the allele frequencies between the patients and controls (all P > 0.005) . Haplotypes were constructed using 5 SNPs in the IL-12B gene, and there was no significant difference in the frequencies of 6 haplotypes between the patients and controls of Mongolian or Han nationality (all P > 0.005) ; stratification analysis showed that there was no significant difference in the frequencies of 7 haplotypes between HLA-Cw*0602-positive/negative patients and controls of Mongolian or Han nationality (all P > 0.005) . Conclusion:IL-12 pathway-related gene polymorphisms are associated with psoriasis vulgaris in the populations of Mongolian and Han nationalities in Inner Mongolia, and there may be interaction between IL-12B and HLA-Cw*0602 in the occurrence of psoriasis vulgaris.

Objective To investigate the association between polymorphisms in the tumor necrosis factor α-induced protein 3 (TNFAIP3)-interacting protein 1 (TNIP1) gene and psoriasis vulgaris in a Han population from north China.Methods Totally,465 patients with psoriasis vulgaris (PsV) and 476 healthy human controls were enrolled into the study.Five milliliters of venous blood samples were collected from these subjects after informed consent.Three single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs) in the TNIP1 gene,including rs17728338,rs3762999 and rs999556,were selected for genotyping with ligase detection reaction (LDR).With the PLINK 1.07 package,statistical analysis was carried out by using the chi-square test for comparisons of allele frequencies and genotype frequencies between the patient group and control group.The allelic odds ratio (OR) and its 95％ confidence interval (CI) were calculated.In addition,linkage disequilibrium analysis was performed for the three SNPs by calculating the r2 and D' values.Results There was a difference in the allele frequencies of the three SNPs between the patients with psoriasis vulgaris and controls,but the difference was statistically significant in only the allele frequencies of rs17728338,but not in those of the other two SNPs after Bonferroni correction.Under the dominant inheritance model,the genotype frequencies of the 3 SNPs all significantly differed between the patients and controls after Bonferroni correction (all P ＜ 0.016 7).Stratification analysis showed that there was a significant difference in the allele and genotype frequencies of the three SNPs between the patients with a family history and healthy controls (all P ＜ 0.016 7),and the frequency of A allele of rs17728338 was significantly lower in the controls than in the patients with psoriasis vulgaris,patients with early-onset psoriasis vulgaris (n =355),patients with late-onset psoriasis vulgaris (n =107),patients with a family history (n =68),and patients without a family history (n =394) (all P ＜ 0.0167).Strong linkage disequilibrium existed between rs3762999 and rs999556 (r2 =0.910,D' =0.982),and moderate linkage disequilibrium existed between rs17728338 and rs3762999 (r2 =0.371,D' =0.989) as well as rs999556 (r2 =0.353,D' =1).Conclusion The SNPs rs17728338,rs3762999 and rs999556 in the TNIP1 gene were associated with psoriasis vulgaris in the Chinese Han population.

Objective To investigate the association between endoplasmic reticulum aminopeptidase 1 (ERAP1)gene polymorphisms and psoriasis vulgaris (PsV)in a Chinese Han population. Methods Five milliliters of venous blood samples were collected from 289 patients with PsV and 292 human controls of Han nationality after informed consent. Three single nucleotide polymorphisms (SNPs)in the encoding area of the ERAP1 gene, including rs27044, rs30187 and rs26653, were genotyped by ligase detection reaction (LDR). With the PLINK 1.07 package, statistical analysis was carried out by using the chi-square test for comparisons of allele and genotype frequencies between the patient group and control group. The allelic odds ratio (OR)and its 95% confidence interval (CI)were calculated. In addition, haplotype analysis was conducted with the Haploview software. Results The frequencies of rs30187-C and rs26653-G alleles were significantly lower in the patient group (0.460 2 and 0.430 8 respectively), especially in patients with early-onset PsV(0.448 5 and 0.422 7 respectively), than in the control group(0.534 2 and 0.501 7 respectively, all P <0.05). The SNPs rs27044, rs30187 and rs26653 showed strong linkage disequilibrium with each other (r2 ≥ 0.717, D′ ≥0.962). Genotype analysis showed that the frequency of the rs30187 CC genotype was significantly lower in the patient group, especially in patients with early-onset PsV, than in the control group (P < 0.05 and 0.016 7 respectively)under a recessive mode of inheritance. Haplotype analysis revealed that the frequency of the haplotype H4: CTC was significantly increased in the patient group(0.050), especially in patients with early-onset PsV(0.052), compared with the control group (0.022, P < 0.05 and 0.016 7 respectively). Conclusions ERAP1 gene polymorphisms are associated with PsV, especially with early-onset PsV in Chinese Han population. The risk haplotype H4: CTC may be a susceptible factor for PsV.

Objective: To investigate the expression of Fermintin family homologous protein 2 (FERMT2) in non-small cell lung cancer and its clinical significance. Methods: Seventy-two patients with non-small cell lung cancer were collected at Xinxiang Central Hospital, Henan Province, from January 2015 to January 2017.There were 48 male and 24 female patients, the age ranged from 37 to 78 years (mean 58 years). The expression of FERMT2 in tumor samples and para-cancerous tissues were detected by immunohistochemistry. Protein and mRNA expression of FERMT2 were detected by Western blot and real-time fluorescence quantitative PCR, respectively. Western blot method was also used to detect integrin-related protein expression, including integrin beta 1 (CD29), vascular cell adhesion molecule (VCAM1), and mobile related protein-1 (MRP1). Results: Immunohistochemistry showed that the positive rates of FERMT2 expression were 81.9%(59/72)in carcinoma tissue and 15.4%(11/72) in para-cancerous tissues, and the difference was statistically significant (P<0.01). Positive FERMT2 expression was different in tumors at different tumor stages: 11/17 at stage Ⅰ, 16/20(80.0%)at stage Ⅱ, 17/20(85.0%)at stage Ⅲ, and 15/15 at stage Ⅳ, and there was a significant difference between each stage (P<0.01). By real-time PCR and Western blot, the expression of FERMT2 in non-small cell lung cancer tissues was significantly higher than that of para-cancerous tissue (P<0.01). The expression levels of integrin related proteins (integrin β1, VCAM1 and MRP1) in tumor tissues were significantly higher than those in para-cancerous tissues, and positively correlated with the expression of FERMT2 (r=0.531, P<0.01; r=0.483, P<0.01; r=0.612, P<0.01). Conclusions FERMT2 is highly expressed in non-small cell lung carcinomas. Its expression is closely correlated with the tumor clinical stage. It is hypothesized that FERMT2 may promote tumor metastasis through interactions with integrin-like protein.

Objective To investigate the influence of early growth response gene-1 (EGR1) on the autophagy of host cells following infection with human T cell leukemia virus type 1 (HTLV-1).MethodsA HTLV-1-positive cell line MT2 was co-cultured with HeLa cells for 24 h to construct the virus early infection model.Immunoblotting assay was used to detect the expression of HTLV-1 core protein p19 and EGR1.Luciferase reporter gene analysis was used to detect the transcriptional activity of 5′-regulatory sequence of EGR1 at different time points after co-culturing.An effective small interfering RNA (siRNA) targeting EGR1 was screened out and transfected into HeLa cells by Lipofectamine 2000.Then the transfected HeLa cells were co-cultured with the HTLV-1-positive cell line MT2 for 24 h.Immunoblotting assay was used to detect HTLV-1 core protein p19, EGR1 and autophagy-related protein LC3.Real-time PCR was performed to detect viral load.Autophagosome was analyzed by immunofluorescence after co-culturing.Results The expression of EGR1 and the transcriptional activity of pEGR1-luc gradually increased after co-culturing HeLa cells with MT2 cells for 8 h (P<0.01).The expression of EGR1 was positively correlated with host cell autophagy following HTLV-1 infection.The effective siRNA for silencing the expression of EGR1 was obtained and named as siE2.The viral load, the expression of HTLV-1 core protein p19 and the proportion of LC3B/LC3A in the co-culture model were markedly down-regulated by RNA interference with siE2, which was concomitant with a persistent decrease of intracellular autophagosome (P<0.01).Conclusion EGR1 is associated with host cell autophagy and viral replication in HTLV-1 infection.

Objective To evaluate the therapeutic effect of evodiamine(Evo)on atopic dermatitis(AD)in rat models by regulating the cyclic adenosine monophosphate(cAMP)/protein kinase A(PKA)/cAMP response ele-ment binding protein(CREB)signaling pathway.Methods A rat model of AD was established by administration of multiple doses of 2,4-dinitrochlorobenzene(DNCB).The animals were randomly divided into AD group,Evo-low-dose(Evo-L,5 mg/kg)group,Evo-high-dose(Evo-H,10 mg/kg)group,Evo-H+H-89(5 mg/kg)group and dexamethasone(0.1 mg/kg)group.Normal rats were used as the control group and then the degree of skin damage of rats in each group was scored.Abdominal blood was taken to detect the levels of interleukin-4(IL-4),cAMP,and tumor necrosis factor-α(TNF-α)in serum;Skin lesion tissue was collected to detect pathological change,counting of mast cells,PKA/CREB related protein expression and expression of IL-4 and TNF-α mRNA in the tissue.Results Compared with control group,the level of cAMP in serum,the expression of p-PKA/PKA,and p-CREB/CREB in skin lesions of AD group were reduced,the severity score of skin lesions,level of IL-4 and TNF-α,epidermal thickness,number of mast cells and mRNA expression of IL-4 and TNF-α in skin lesion tissues were all significantly increased(P＜0.05).Compared with AD group,the level of cAMP in serum,the expression of p-PKA/PKA,and p-CREB/CREB in skin lesions in Evo-L group,Evo-H group,and dexamethasone group were increased,the severity score of skin lesions,level of IL-4 and TNF-α,epidermal thickness,number of mast cells,and mRNA expression of IL-4 and TNF-α in skin lesion tissues all reduced(P＜0.05).Compared with the Evo-H group,the level of cAMP in serum,the expression of p-PKA/PKA,and p-CREB/CREB in skin lesions in Evo-H+H-89 group was reduced and the severity score of skin lesion,level of IL-4 and TNF-α,epidermal thickness,num-ber of mast cells,and mRNA expression of IL-4 and TNF-α in skin lesion tissues significantly increased(P＜0.05).Conclusions Evo inhibits inflammatory response and pathological damage through regulation of cAMP/PKA/CREB signaling pathway in AD rat models.