Banzhilian formula alleviates psoriasis-like lesions via the LCN2/MMP-9 axis based on transcriptome analysis

Abstract

Introduction: Oral Banzhilian formula (BZLF) is effective in the clinical treatment of psoriasis. However, the effectiveness and mechanism of different drug delivery routes deserve further study.Methods: First, we established the mouse model of psoriasis using imiquimod (IMQ), and high-performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) was used for the quality control of BZLF. Secondly, Total RNA Sequencing and bioinformatics analysis were used to explore the regulatory mechanism of BZLF in improving psoriatic lesions. Finally, further verification was based on animal experiments.Results: we externally applied BZLF for skin lesions in an imiquimod-induced psoriasis mouse model and found that BZLF alleviated psoriasis-like skin lesions while inhibiting the expression of Ki67 and inflammatory factors (Il17a, Tnf-α, S100a7 and Cxcl1) in skin lesions. Transcriptome sequencing results suggested that BZLF inhibited signalling pathways closely related to psoriatic inflammation, such as the IL-17 signalling pathway, chemokine signalling pathway, TNF signalling pathway, and NF-kappa B signalling pathway, and the protein-protein interaction (PPI) network identified LCN2 as one of the core target genes and screened out its regulated downstream gene MMP9.Discussion: Our findings suggest that the anti-psoriatic mechanism of BZLF involved in downregulating the LCN2/MMP-9 axis.

Chinese Herbal Medicine Jia Wei Jing Xie Yin Ameliorates Imiquimod-Induced Psoriasis by Modulating Gamma Delta T Cells

“…γδT17 cells can co-produce IL-22 in a variety of environments [11] . TNF-α, IL-6, and MMP-9 have been shown to play important roles in the pathogenesis of psoriasis [12][13][14] . We used qRT-PCR to determine whether JWJXY affected the expression of inflammatory genes in skin cells of IMQ-induced psoriasis mice.…”