Mechanism of tryptanthrin in treatment of ulcerative colitis in mice based on serum metabolomics / 中国中药杂志

This study aims to explore the effect of tryptanthrin on potential metabolic biomarkers in the serum of mice with ulcerative colitis(UC) induced by dextran sulfate sodium(DSS) based on liquid chromatography-mass spectrometry(LC-MS) and predict the related metabolic pathways. C57BL/6 mice were randomly assigned into a tryptanthrin group, a sulfasalazine group, a control group, and a model group. The mouse model of UC was established by free drinking of 3% DSS solution for 11 days, and corresponding drugs were adminsitrated at the same time. The signs of mice were observed and the disease activity index(DAI) score was recorded from the first day. Colon tissue samples were collected after the experiment and observed by hematoxylin-eosin(HE) staining. The levels of interleukin-4(IL-4), interleukin-10(IL-10), tumor necrosis factor-α(TNF-α), interleukin-6(IL-6), and interleukin-8(IL-8) in the serum were measured by enzyme linked immunosorbent assay(ELISA). The serum samples were collected from 6 mice in each group for widely targeted metabolomics. The metabolic pathways were enriched by MetaboAnalyst 5.0. The results showed that compared with the model group, tryptanthrin treatment decreased the DAI score(P<0.05), alleviated the injury of the colon tissue and the infiltration of inflammatory cells, lowered the levels of proinflammatory cytokines, and elevated the levels of anti-inflammatory cytokines in the serum. The metabolomic analysis revealed 28 differential metabolites which were involved in 3 metabolic pathways including purine metabolism, arachidonic acid metabolism, and tryptophan metabolism. Tryptanthrin may restore the metabolism of the mice with UC induced by DSS to the normal level by regulating the purine metabolism, arachidonic acid metabolism, and tryptophan metabolism. This study employed metabolomics to analyze the mechanism of tryptanthrin in the treatment of UC, providing an experimental basis for the utilization and development of tryptanthrin.

Investigation of Mechanism of Tryptanthrin Inhibiting Breast Cancer in Mice Based on Proteomics / 中国实验方剂学杂志

Objective:A systematical study on the anti-breast cancer mechanism of tryptanthrin in breast cancer-bearing mice was done by Label-free proteomics. Method:UPLC-MS was used to detect the expressed-proteins of tryptanthrin inhibiting breast cancer in mice， chromatographic separation was achieved on the Ionoptics nano UPLC C18 column （0.075 mm×250 mm， 1.6 μm）， and gradient elution was performed with 0.1% formic acid aqueous solution-0.1% formic acid acetonitrile solution as mobile phase. Data acquisition was carried out in electrospray ionization （ESI） under the positive ion mode， the scanning range was m/z 100-1 700， MaxQuant 1.6.5.0 was used for database retrieval. Label-free proteomics with high resolution mass spectrometry was used to screen differentially expressed proteins between the model group of 4T1 breast cancer mice and oral administration group of tryptanthrin （100 mg·kg-1）. The proteomics of tryptanthrin against breast cancer was carried out. Result:A total of 3 997 proteins were identified in this proteomics research， and 2 911 proteins were quantifiable. A total of 750 differentially expressed proteins were identified between the model group and the tryptanthrin group， 286 proteins were up-regulated and 464 proteins were down-regulated. Gene ontology analysis showed that these differentially expressed proteins were mainly involved in biological processes of proliferation， cell migration， apoptosis， immunity， angiogenesis， inflammatory regulation， etc. Kyoto encyclopedia of genes and genomes pathway analysis further indicated that these proteins were mainly concentrated in T cell receptors， B cell receptors， Toll-like receptors， nuclear transcription factor-κB （NF-κB）， Ras proteins， interleukin-17， tumor necrosis factor， phosphatidylinositol 3-kinase/protein kinase B （PI3K-Akt）， mitogen-activated protein kinase （MAPK） and other signaling pathways. Conclusion:The differentially expressed proteins closely related to anti-breast cancer effect of tryptanthrin on 4T1 breast cancer mice are effectively screened out， including up-regulating proteins of leukocyte differentiation antigen 14 （CD14）， prostaglandin G/H synthase 2 （PTGS2）， E3 ubiquitin-protein ligase and down-regulating proteins of CD44， heat shock 70 kDa protein 1A （HSPA1A）， macrophage migration inhibitory factor （MIF）， NF-κB， ribosomal protein S6 kinase alpha-4 （RPS6KA4） and high mobility group protein B1 （HMGB1）. These findings suggest that tryptanthrin can inhibit breast cancer in mice mainly through regulating tumor inflammatory microenvironment.

Effect of Tryptanthrin on Proliferation of Human Breast Cancer MCF-7 Cells Via MAPK Signaling Pathway / 中国药学杂志

OBJECTIVE: To investigate the effect of tryptanthrin on human breast cancer MCF-7 proliferation and MAPK signaling pathway. METHODS: The human breast cancer cell MCF-7 was cultured in vitro, different concentrations of 0.1, 0.5, 1, 5, 10, 25, 50, 100 μmol•L-1 of tryptanthrin and ERK, p38MAPK and JNK pathway inhibitors were used to treat MCF-7 cell for 24, 48 or 72 h. MTT assay was used to detect cell proliferation activity. The expression level of ERK, p-ERK, p38, p-p38, JNK and p-JNK were measured by Western blot method. RESULTS: Low, medium and high doses of tryptanthrin significantly inhibited the proliferation of MCF-7 cells. When MCF-7 cells were treated with different concentrations of tryptanthrin for 24, 48, 72 h, the inhibition rate of cell proliferation was correlated with the drug concentration (r=0.904, r=0.793, r=0.770, P<0.05). The 25 μmol•L-1 of tryptanthrin significantly inhibits the proliferation of MCF-7 cells for 24 h treatment(P<0.01). The cell proliferation activity of tryptanthrin combined with ERK inhibitor group, tryptanthrin combined with p38 MAPK inhibitor group, tryptanthrin combined with JNK inhibitor group was significantly different from that of tryptanthrin group(P<0.01 or P<0.001); MCF-7 cells was treated with 6.25, 12.5, 25 μmol•L-1 of tryptanthrin, the expression of p-ERK and p-JNK increased significantly(P<0.05 or P<0.01); MCF-7 cells was treated with 25 μmol•L-1 of tryptanthrin, the expression of p-p38 MAPK increased significantly(P<0.05); the expression of ERK, p38 MAPK and JNK did not change significantly. CONCLUSION: Tryptanthrin can inhibit the proliferative activity of MCF-7 cells, and its mechanism may be closely related to the activation of MAPK signaling pathway.

Tryptanthrin derivative CY-1-4 nanoparticle induces ferroptosis in B16-F10 cells / 药学学报

CY-1-4 is a tryptanthrin derivative exhibiting antitumor activity. The solubility of CY-1-4 was poor and the corresponding mechanism needs further study. To solve this problem, we prepared nanoparticles encapsulated with CY-1-4 (CY-1-4 NPs) by nanoprecipitation method using poly(caprolactone) (PCL) and poly(ethylene glycol)-co-poly(ε-caprolactone) (PEG-PCL) as carriers to improve solubility. We then explored whether CY-1-4 NPs induced B16-F10 cytotoxicity via ferroptosis by determining the effect of CY-1-4 NPs on reactive oxygen (ROS) levels, repairing efficacy of lipid reactive oxygen inhibitor ferrostatin-1 and iron chelator deferoxamine (DFO), and potentiation of protoporphyrin (PPIX) induced B16-F10 cell death. The results showed that nanoparticlated strategy significantly improved solubility of CY-1-4. With the particle size about 116 nm, encapsulating efficacy was about 83% and the drug loading capacity was about 4.80%. Ferroptosis mechanistic studies indicated that CY-1-4 NPs could improve the ROS level in B16-F10 cells, whereas ferrostatin-1 and DFO could partly inhibited the cytotoxicity and PPIX could potentiated the cytotoxicity of CY-1-4 NPs in B16-F10 cells. These results showed that ferroptosis was one of the cell death mechanisms induced by tryptanthrin derivative CY-1-4 nanoparticle.

Docking studies on novel alkaloid tryptanthrin and its analogues against enoyl-acyl carrier protein reductase (InhA) of Mycobacterium tuberculosis.

Isoniazid resistance is a serious threat in the battle against the treatment of multi-drug resistant tuberculosis (MDR-TB) and extremely drug-resistant tuberculosis (XDR-TB). Isoniazid is an inhibitor of enoyl-acyl carrier protein reductase (InhA) of Mycobacterium tuberculosis, which is an important and functional enzyme of the type II fatty acid synthesis system and important therapeutic target. Natural alkaloid tryptanthrin and its analogues have shown anti-tubercular activity against MDR-TB, but their cellular target is unknown. In this work, in silico molecular docking was performed using docking server in order to see the interaction of tryptanthrin and its 15 analogues with InhA of M. tuberculosis. Results showed that among tryptanthrin and its 15 analogues, tryptanthrin and its two analogues exhibited good affinity to the binding site of InhA with free binding energy of -7.94 kcal/mol and inhibition constant (Ki) of 1.50 µm. Active site residues of InhA interacting with tryptanthrin were Ser13, Thr39, Phe41, Leu63, Asp64, Val65, Ile95, Phe97 and Ile122. In binding mode, polar bond were found between O1 (1) with Asp64 of bond length (3.34 Å) and hydrophobic bonds were found between Leu63 with C15 and C12, Val65 with C7, Val65 with C12 and C4, Ile95 with C6 and C7, Ile95 with C10, C12 and C14. Important pi-pi bonds were found between Phe41 with C2, C5, C7, C12, C4, C6, C8, C9, C13 and Phe97 with C9. These interactions indicated stability of tryptanthrin in active residue and suggested it as a potential drug candidate. Thus, good affinity of tryptanthrin to binding site of InhA may lead to synthesis of anti-tubercular drug capable of combating MDR strains of M. tuberculosis

Induction of apoptosis by Tryptanthrin on K562 cells / 中国药理学通报

Aim To study the effect of Tryptanthrin(Try) on proliferation and apoptosis of erythroleukemia K562 cells.Methods The cell proliferation effect of Try(1.56～50 mg?L-1) on K562 cells was assessed by MTT assay.The morphologic change was observed by Hoechst 33258 fluore-scent stain.The flow cytometer was used to detect cell apoptosis and cell cycle.Results MTT showed that in the range of 3.12～50 mg?L-1 Try obviously inhibited the proliferation of K562 cells in a dose and time-dependent manner.Typical apoptosis changes were observed in K562 cells treated with Try for 48 h by flourescence inverted microscope.With Annexin V-FITC and PI double staining,folw cytometer result showed that the apoptosis state was obvious in K562 cells treated with 25,50 mg?L-1 Try for 48 h.The cell cycle distribution of K562 was changed.The G0/G1 phase was blocked and the DNA synthesis was inhibited,accompanied with subdiploid apoptotic peak.Conclusion Try has an effect on inhibiting the cell proliferation and inducing the apoptosis of K562.

Research progress of tryptanthrin / 中国药理学通报

Tryptanthrin is a kind of indole quinazoline alkaloid.In this review,recently reported research progresses of tryptanthrin on extraction,systhesis and pharmalogical action have been mainly summarized.The effect of tryptanthrin on antimicrobial,antiinflammatory and antitumor activities has been found,showing its good application and development perspective.