Effects of anti-rheumatic herbal medicines on cellular adhesion molecules.

Abstract

To test the hypothesis whether herbal medicines ameliorate inflammatory diseases via the modulation of cellular adhesion molecules (CAMs). Human neutrophils, synovial fibroblasts, and endothelial cells were incubated with different concentrations of Tripterygium Wilfordii Hook-f (TWH-f) or Tetrandrine in the presence or absence of interleukin 1 (IL1). The amount of soluble E-selectin, intercellular adhesion molecule-1 (ICAM-1) and vascular cellular adhesion molecule-1 (VCAM-1) secreted by cells were determined by ELISA. The cell surface expression of these three CAMs was detected by flow cytometry. TWH-f at high concentration (50 ng/ml) has a significant (p<0.05) inhibitory effect on both the secretion and the expression of the cellular adhesion molecules. However, Tetrandrine did not demonstrate the same effects. The cellular adhesion molecules of the endothelium and leucocytes may constitute excellent targets for the development of new anti-inflammation medicines. These results indicate that TWH could be a potential therapeutic agent in the treatment of inflammatory diseases.