ABSTRACT
OBJECTIVE To investigate the effects of β-sitosterol on the function of rheumatoid arthritis （RA） fibroblastic synoviocytes MH7A cells and its mechanism. METHODS Network pharmacology was adopted to screen the targets of β-sitosterol and the targets for the treatment of RA. After the intersection of them， topological analysis was performed to find the most critical target in the treatment of RA. MH7A cells were treated with different concentrations （0， 5， 10， 20， 40 μmol/L） of β-sitosterol， and CCK-8 was used to assay cell viability for screening the optimal concentration of β-sitosterol. MH7A cells were induced by 10 ng/mL TNF-α in vitro and treated with β-sitosterol （the optimum concentration）. CCK-8 and EdU were used to detect the ability of cell proliferation. Scratch experiment and Transwell invasion assay were used to analyze cell migration and invasion. The levels of interleukin-1β （IL-1β） and IL-6 in cell supernatant were detected by enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay （ELISA）. The mRNA and protein expressions of peroxisome proliferator-activated receptor α （PPARα） were measured by qRT-PCR and Western blot， respectively. The siRNA targeting PPARα was transfected into MH7A cells， and the effects of β-sitosterol on cell proliferation， migration， invasion， the secretion of inflammatory factors and the expression of PPARα after PPARα knockdown were detected by the above experimental methods. RESULTS PPARα was the most critical target of β-sitosterol in the treatment of RA. The optimal concentration of β-sitosterol was 20 μmol/L. Compared with model group， β-sitosterol decreased the viability of MH7A cells， and the number of proliferating cells also decreased significantly （P＜0.05）； the cell migration rate and the number of cell invasion decreased significantly （P＜0.05）. The levels of IL-1β and IL-6 were also significantly decreased （P＜0.05）， and the mRNA 15 and protein expression levels of PPARα were significantly increased （P＜0.05）. Compared with negative control small interfering RNA group， after PPARα knockdown， the cell viability increased by about 35.6% （P＜0.05）， the number of cell proliferation， the cell migration rate and the number of cell invasion increased significantly （P＜0.05）， and the levels of IL-1β and IL-6 also increased significantly （P＜0.05）. CONCLUSIONS β-sitosterol could effectively inhibit the proliferation， migration， invasion and secretion of inflammatory factors in MH7A cells， the mechanism of which may be associated with activating PPARα pathway.
ABSTRACT
Objective To explore the clinical regularity of drugs on epidemic encephalitis B with text mining technique. Methods The data set on epidemic encephalitis B was downloaded from CBM database. The regularities of Chinese herbal medicine, Chinese patent medicine (CPM), western medicine and the combination of CPM and western medicine on epidemic encephalitis B were mined by data slicing algorithm. The results are showed visually with Cytoscape 2.8 software. Results The main function of herbal pieces was focused on clearing heat and removing toxicity. The herbal pieces such as Rehmanniae Radix Isatidis Raxis, Isatids Folium, Paeoniae Radis rubra and Scutellariae Radix were most often used. Angong Niuhuang Wan and Qingkailing Injection were usually used as CPM. For western medicine, antiviral drugs such as interferon and ribavirin were often used, and they were often used together with brain cells nutrition medicine, hormone, immunopotentiator and so on, and they were also frequently used together with CPM such as Angong Niuhuang Wan and Qingkailing Injection. Conclusion Text mining approach provides an important method in exploring the medication regularity for diseas, and provide refenrence for clinical use.