Treatment with 6‐Gingerol Regulates Dendritic Cell Activity and Ameliorates the Severity of Experimental Autoimmune Encephalomyelitis

• Published in: Molecular nutrition & food research 2019-09, Vol.63 (18), p.e1801356-n/a
• Main Authors: Han, Juan‐Juan, Li, Xing, Ye, Ze‐Qing, Lu, Xin‐Yu, Yang, Ting, Tian, Jing, Wang, Yu‐Qian, Zhu, Lin, Wang, Zhe‐Zhi, Zhang, Yuan
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Subjects: 6‐gingerol; Animal models; Aquatic plants; Autoimmune diseases; BM‐DC; Cell activation; Central nervous system; Demyelination; Dendritic cells; Diet; EAE; Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay; Etiology; Experimental allergic encephalomyelitis; Flow cytometry; Ginger; Gingerol; Immunomodulation; Kinases; Medical treatment; Multiple sclerosis; Phosphorylation; Protein kinase; Regulators; Rhizomes; Th17 cells
• ISSN: 1613-4125; 1613-4133
• DOI: 10.1002/mnfr.201801356

Scope Multiple sclerosis (MS) is an inflammatory demyelinating autoimmune disorder, with increasing incidence worldwide but unknown etiology. 6‐Gingerol (6‐GIN), a major dietary compound found in ginger rhizome, has immunomodulatory activity. However, its role in autoimmune diseases, as well as the underlying mechanisms, are unclear. In this study, it is evaluated if 6‐GIN can effectively ameliorate the clinical disease severity of experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis, an animal model of MS. Methods and results Clinical scores of experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis (EAE) mice are recorded daily. Inflammation of periphery and neuroinflammation of EAE mice are determined by flow cytometry analysis, ELISA, and histopathological analysis, and results show that 6‐GIN significantly inhibits inflammatory cell infiltration from the periphery into the central nervous system and reduces neuroinflammation and demyelination. Flow cytometry analysis, ELISA, and quantitative PCR show that 6‐GIN could suppress lipolysaccharide‐induced dendritic cell (DC) activation and induce the tolerogenic DCs. Immunoblot analysis reveals that the phosphorylation of nuclear factor‐κB and mitogen‐activated protein kinase, two critical regulators of inflammatory signaling, are significantly inhibited in 6‐GIN‐treated DCs. Conclusion The results of this study demonstrate that 6‐GIN has significant potential as a novel anti‐inflammatory agent for the treatment of autoimmune diseases such as MS via direct modulatory effects on DCs. 6‐Gingerol alleviates the clinical signs of experimental autoimmune encephalomyelitis by suppressing dendritic cell (DC) activation and inducing the tolerogenic properties of DCs.