Tripterygium wilfordii glycosides ameliorates collagen-induced arthritis and aberrant lipid metabolism in rats

Yitian Zhu; Luyun Zhang; Xiafeng Zhang; Dehong Wu; Leiming Chen; Changfeng Hu; Chengping Wen; Jia Zhou

doi:10.3389/fphar.2022.938849

Tripterygium wilfordii glycosides ameliorates collagen-induced arthritis and aberrant lipid metabolism in rats

Front Pharmacol. 2022 Aug 29:13:938849. doi: 10.3389/fphar.2022.938849. eCollection 2022.

Authors

Yitian Zhu¹, Luyun Zhang², Xiafeng Zhang², Dehong Wu³, Leiming Chen⁴, Changfeng Hu², Chengping Wen², Jia Zhou²

Affiliations

¹ The Second Clinical Medical College of Zhejiang Chinese Medical University, Hangzhou, China.
² Institute of Basic Research in Clinical Medicine, College of Basic Medical Science, Zhejiang Chinese Medical University, Hangzhou, China.
³ The Second Affiliated Hospital of Zhejiang Chinese Medical University, Hangzhou, China.
⁴ Department of Nephrology, Wenzhou Hospital of Integrated Traditional Chinese and Western Medicine, Wenzhou, China.

Abstract

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic inflammatory autoimmune disease, and the dysregulation of lipid metabolism has been found to play an important role in the pathogenesis of RA and is related to the severity and prognosis of patients. Tripterygium wilfordii glycosides (TWG) is extracted from the roots of Tripterygium wilfordii Hook F. with anti-inflammatory and immunosuppressive effects, and numerous clinical trials have supported its efficacy in the treatment of RA. Some evidence suggested that TWG can modulate the formation of lipid mediators in various innate immune cells; however whether it can improve RA-related lipid disorders has not been systematically studied. In the study, type Ⅱ collagen-induced arthritis (CIA) model was used to investigate the efficacy of TWG in the treatment of RA and its effect on lipid metabolism. Paw volume, arthritis score, pathological changes of ankle joint, serum autoantibodies and inflammatory cytokines were detected to assess the therapeutic effect on arthritis in CIA rats. Then, shotgun lipidomics based on multi-dimensional mass spectrometry platform was performed to explore the alterations in serum lipidome caused by TWG. The study showed that TWG could effectively ameliorate arthritis in CIA rats, such as reducing paw volume and arthritis score, alleviating the pathological damages of joint, and preventing the production of anti-CII autoantibodies and IL-1β cytokine. Significant increase in ceramide and decrease in lysophosphatidylcholine were observed in CIA rats, and were highly correlated with arthritis score and IL-1β level. After TWG treatment, these lipid abnormalities can be corrected to a great extent. These data demonstrate that TWG exerts a beneficial therapeutic effect on aberrant lipid metabolism which may provide new insights for further exploring the role and mechanism of TWG in the treatment of RA.

Keywords: Tripterygium wilfordii glycosides; collagen-induced arthritis; lipid metabolism; rheumatoid arthritis; shotgun lipidomics.