Phagocytes release inflammatory mediators to defense harmful stimuli upon bacterial invasion, however, excessive inflammatory reaction leads to tissue damage and manifestation of pathological states. Therefore, targeting on uncontrolled
inflammation seems feasible to control numerous
inflammation-associated diseases. Under the
drug screening process of synthetic diphenylpyrazole derivatives, we discovered compound
yuwen02f1 possesses anti-inflammatory effects in decreasing the release of pro-inflammatory
cytokines including TNFα and
IL-6,
nitric oxide,
reactive oxygen species (ROS) as well as inhibiting migration of LPS-stimulated phagocytes. In addition, we observed that the molecular mechanism of yuwen02f1-mediated anti-
inflammation is associated with decreasing phosphorylation of MAPK molecules including ERK1/2, JNK and p38, and attenuating translocation of p47(
phox) and p67(
phox) to the cell membrane.
Yuwen02f1 also reverses IκBα degradation and attenuates the expression of NFκB-related downstream inducible
enzymes like iNOS and COX-2. Furthermore, we found that
yuwen02f1 attenuates some pathological syndromes of LPS-induced
sepsis and adjuvant-induced
arthritis in mice, as evidenced by decreasing the
cytokine production, reversing thrombocytopenic syndrome, protecting the mice from tissue injury in septic mice, and attenuating paw
edema in arthritic mice as well. These results suggest that
yuwen02f1 is a potential
anti-inflammatory agent for alleviating syndromes of acute and chronic inflammatory diseases as evidenced by attenuating the generation of
cytokines and down-regulating the expression of iNOS and COX-2 through the blockade of ROS generation and
NADPH oxidase, NFκB and MAPK activation pathways in LPS-stimulated phagocytes.