Genuine traditional Korean medicine, BaekJeol-Tang for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis

Abstract

Inflammation in rheumatoid arthritis is characterized by immune cell infiltration and cytokine secretion. In particular, mast cells and their cytokines play an important role in the pathogenesis of rheumatoid arthritis. Korean medicine, BaekJeol-Tang (BT) was designed by traditional Korean medicine theory. We already reported therapeutic effect of BT in rheumatoid arthritis. Here, we report the specific underlying mechanism of BT in activated human mast cells, HMC-1 cells. In addition, we report for the first time that BT significantly inhibited the production and mRNA expression of proinflammatory cytokines including thymic stromal lymphopoietin, interleukin (IL)-1β, IL-6, IL-8, and tumor necrosis factor-α in activated HMC-1 cells. BT also decreased the activation of mitogen-activated protein kinases, nuclear factor-κB, and caspapase-1. Taken together, these results indicate that BT has potential as a regulator of inflammatory reactions for the treatment of arthritis such as osteoarthritis and rheumatoid arthritis.

Immunomodulatory efficacy of Beauty-salt is mediated by the caspase-1/NF-κB/RIP2/MAP kinase pathway in mast cells

“…Štofilová et al () reported that the number of NF‐κB positive cells was significantly increased in intestinal inflammation. The expression of inflammatory cytokines in activated human mast cells is also positively correlated with enhanced NF‐κB expression (Han et al, ; Nam et al, ; Song et al, ) and increased NF‐κB activity has been identified in various inflammatory disorders (Choi, Kim, Ko, & Lee, ; Miagkov et al, ; Poynter, Irvin, & Janssen‐Heininger, ). Furthermore, many researchers have reported that targeted strategies to prevent NF‐κB activation, such as the use of natural products, small molecule inhibitors, and proteasome inhibitors, are effective in experimental allergic inflammatory models (Bao et al, ).…”

“…Therefore, the excessive phosphorylation of p38, ERK, and JNK were regarded as criteria to evaluate inflammatory activity. Diverse inhibitors targeting p38, ERK, and JNK pathways exhibit anti‐inflammatory effects through inhibition of the expression of inflammatory mediators (Han et al, ; Kang et al, ). The present study also showed that BS suppressed the PMACI‐induced phosphorylation of MAPKs.…”

“…The separated NF‐κB enters the nucleus and binds to specific DNA sequences to support the transcription of proinflammatory mediators, such as thymic stromal lymphopoietin (TSLP), tumor necrosis factor‐α (TNF‐α), interleukin(IL)‐1β, IL‐6, and IL‐8 (Song et al, ). Activation of NF‐κB is also induced by MAPK family members, such as, c‐Jun N‐terminal kinase (JNK), p38, and extracellular signal‐regulated kinase (ERK) (Han et al, ). Furthermore, caspase‐1 participates in NF‐κB activation by means of autocrine signaling via interaction between IL‐1β and cell surface receptors (Wu, Guo, Chen, Wang, & Cunningham, ).…”

Mind over matter: how biased perceptions of political knowledge influence selection and evaluation of political YouTube channels

“…However, it seems that YouTube is aware of its position in the political landscape and is taking responsibility. For example, company leaders indicated that in the first quarter of 2019 alone, the company removed approximately 260,000 videos that violated its guidelines (Han et al, 2020). In this context, it is reasonable to ask whether YouTube and YouTube channels are entirely to blame for negative consequences such as polarization.…”

“…However, it seems that YouTube is aware of its position in the political landscape and is taking responsibility. For example, company leaders indicated that in the first quarter of 2019 alone, the company removed approximately 260,000 videos that violated its guidelines (Han et al. , 2020).…”