HOME HELP FEEDBACK SUBSCRIPTIONS ARCHIVE SEARCH TABLE OF CONTENTS		QUICK SEARCH:   [advanced] Author: Keyword(s): Year:  Vol:  Page:

This Article Full Text Full Text (PDF) Supplemental Figure All Versions of this Article: 233/9/1124    most recent 0801-RM-15v1 Alert me when this article is cited Alert me if a correction is posted Services Similar articles in this journal Similar articles in PubMed Alert me to new issues of the journal Download to citation manager Google Scholar Articles by Gong, F. Articles by Xu, Q. PubMed PubMed Citation Articles by Gong, F. Articles by Xu, Q.

---

ORIGINAL RESEARCH ARTICLE

Dregea volubilis Ameliorates Concanavalin A-Induced Liver Injury by Facilitating Apoptosis of Activated T Cells

Fangyuan Gong^*, Yan Shen^*, Chaofeng Zhang, Jianliang Xu^*, Xuefeng Wu^*, Zichun Hua^* and Qiang Xu^*,1

^* State Key Laboratory of Pharmaceutical, Biotechnology, School of Life Sciences, Nanjing University, Nanjing 210093, China; and Department of Pharmacogonosy, China Pharmaceutical University, Nanjing 210038, China

To whom requests for reprints should be addressed at ¹ State Key Laboratory of Pharmaceutical Biotechnology, School of Life Sciences, Nanjing University, 22 Han Kou Road, Nanjing 210093, China. E-mail: molpharm{at}163.com

Activation of T cells is a critical event in the pathogenesis of concanavalin A (Con A)-induced liver injury, and facilitating apoptosis of activated T cells may provide a strategy for the treatment. Here, we found that the ethanol extract from the stem parts of Dregea volubilis (DVE) inhibited cell proliferation and induced apoptosis, which was selective for Con A-activated, rather than nonactivated, lymph node cells. Administration of DVE prevented mice from Con A-induced elevation of serum transaminases, liver necrosis and increased TNF-, IFN-, IL-2 and IL-4 in mice sera. DVE also caused apoptosis of in vivo activated T cells. In addition, increased active fragments of caspase-3 were found in the DVE-treated cells. But DVE-induced apoptosis was Fas-independent, as it was still observed in T cells from Fas ligand-mutated gld/gld mice. These results suggest that DVE may have great potential to treat T cell-mediated diseases through facilitating apoptosis of activated T cells.

Key Words: Dregea volubilis • apoptosis of activated T cell • Con A-induced liver injury • Fas ligand