"Cerastes snake venom as a promising approach in the management of complete Freund's adjuvant-induced rheumatoid arthritis in rats: Involvement of RANKL and JAK/STAT pathway"

Nourhan S Soliman; Mohamed A Kandeil; Marwa M Khalaf

doi:10.1016/j.jep.2023.116577

"Cerastes snake venom as a promising approach in the management of complete Freund's adjuvant-induced rheumatoid arthritis in rats: Involvement of RANKL and JAK/STAT pathway"

J Ethnopharmacol. 2023 Oct 5:314:116577. doi: 10.1016/j.jep.2023.116577. Epub 2023 May 11.

Authors

Nourhan S Soliman¹, Mohamed A Kandeil², Marwa M Khalaf³

Affiliations

¹ Safety and Bioassay Unit, Egyptian Drug Authority, Giza, Egypt. Electronic address: nourhan.sayed@edaegypt.gov.eg.
² Department of Biochemistry, Faculty of Veterinary Medicine, Beni-Suef University, Egypt. Electronic address: mohamed.kandeal@vet.bsu.edu.eg.
³ Department of Pharmacology and Toxicology, Faculty of Pharmacy, Beni-Suef University, Egypt. Electronic address: marwa.khalaf@pharm.bsu.edu.eg.

PMID: 37178980
DOI: 10.1016/j.jep.2023.116577

Abstract

Ethnopharmacological relevance: Cerastes is a snake found mainly in the Egyptian desert. Many studies were performed to explain the possible snake venom's pharmacological therapeutic effect in different autoimmune diseases. One of the most common auto-immune diseases is rheumatoid arthritis. Rheumatoid arthritis is characterized by a high release of pro-inflammatory and immune-modulatory cytokines. The reduction of these markers can indicate how effective is the administered drug.

Aim of the study: This study aims to explore the potential pharmacological effects of cerastes venom in experimentally-induced RA in rats using Complete Freund's adjuvant - via different mechanisms - by assessing various tissue and serum parameters.

Materials and methods: The rats were assigned to negative control group, cerastes control group, positive control group, dexamethasone-treated group, infliximab-treated group, and cerastes-treated group. The study ended on the 20^th day when serum and tissue samples were prepared for further evaluation of reduced glutathione, malondialdehyde, rheumatoid factor, tumor necrosis factor-α, interleukin-6, and nuclear factor kappa-light-chain-enhancer of activated B cells as well as relative expression of phosphorylated Janus-kinase, phosphorylated signal transducers and activators of transcription, nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2, and receptor activator of nuclear factor Kappa-B ligand. In addition, a histopathological examination of different groups' knees joints, and spleen was done.

Results: The results showed a significant improvement of arthritis induced in the cerastes-treated group in contrast to the positive control group in all assessed parameters. In addition, significant improvement of arthritis was observed in the histopathological examination of different groups' knees joints, and spleen.

Conclusion: These results revealed that cerastes snake venom has potent anti-inflammatory and immunomodulatory effects and can be used in the management of arthritis.

Keywords: Autoimmune disease; Cerastes cerastes; Complete Freund's adjuvant; Rheumatoid arthritis; Snake venom.

MeSH terms

Animals
Arthritis, Experimental* / chemically induced
Arthritis, Experimental* / drug therapy
Arthritis, Rheumatoid* / chemically induced
Arthritis, Rheumatoid* / drug therapy
Freund's Adjuvant
Janus Kinases / metabolism
Rats
STAT Transcription Factors / metabolism
Signal Transduction
Viper Venoms
Viperidae* / metabolism

Substances

Freund's Adjuvant
Janus Kinases
Viper Venoms
STAT Transcription Factors