An Integrated Proteomics and Bioinformatics Approach Reveals the Anti-inflammatory Mechanism of Carnosic Acid

• Main Authors: Li-Chao Wang, Wen-Hui Wei, Xiao-Wen Zhang, Dan Liu, Ke-Wu Zeng, Peng-Fei Tu
• Format: Article
• Language: English
• Published: Frontiers Media S.A. 2018-04-01
• Series: Frontiers in Pharmacology
• Subjects: carnosic acid; anti-inflammatory; proteomics; MAPK pathway; IKKβ/IκB-α/NF-κB pathway; FoxO1/3 pathway
• Online Access: http://journal.frontiersin.org/article/10.3389/fphar.2018.00370/full

Drastic macrophages activation triggered by exogenous infection or endogenous stresses is thought to be implicated in the pathogenesis of various inflammatory diseases. Carnosic acid (CA), a natural phenolic diterpene extracted from Salvia officinalis plant, has been reported to possess anti-inflammatory activity. However, its role in macrophages activation as well as potential molecular mechanism is largely unexplored. In the current study, we sought to elucidate the anti-inflammatory property of CA using an integrated approach based on unbiased proteomics and bioinformatics analysis. CA significantly inhibited the robust increase of nitric oxide and TNF-α, downregulated COX2 protein expression, and lowered the transcriptional level of inflammatory genes including Nos2, Tnfα, Cox2, and Mcp1 in LPS-stimulated RAW264.7 cells, a murine model of peritoneal macrophage cell line. The LC-MS/MS-based shotgun proteomics analysis showed CA negatively regulated 217 LPS-elicited proteins which were involved in multiple inflammatory processes including MAPK, nuclear factor (NF)-κB, and FoxO signaling pathways. A further molecular biology analysis revealed that CA effectually inactivated IKKβ/IκB-α/NF-κB, ERK/JNK/p38 MAPKs, and FoxO1/3 signaling pathways. Collectively, our findings demonstrated the role of CA in regulating inflammation response and provide some insights into the proteomics-guided pharmacological mechanism study of natural products.