Cell-free fat extract regulates oxidative stress and alleviates Th2-mediated inflammation in atopic dermatitis

Zexin Fu; Qinhao Gu; Lu Wang; Lulu Chen; Liuyi Zhou; Qiang Jin; Ting Li; Ye Zhao; Sufan Wu; Xuejiao Luo; Tingting Jin; Chengrui Guo

doi:10.3389/fbioe.2024.1373419

Cell-free fat extract regulates oxidative stress and alleviates Th2-mediated inflammation in atopic dermatitis

Front Bioeng Biotechnol. 2024 Apr 26:12:1373419. doi: 10.3389/fbioe.2024.1373419. eCollection 2024.

Authors

Zexin Fu^#^{1

2}, Qinhao Gu^#², Lu Wang², Lulu Chen^{1

2}, Liuyi Zhou², Qiang Jin³, Ting Li², Ye Zhao², Sufan Wu^{1

2}, Xuejiao Luo⁴, Tingting Jin², Chengrui Guo²

Affiliations

¹ The Second Clinical Medical College, Zhejiang Chinese Medical University, Hangzhou, China.
² Center for Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Department of Plastic and Reconstructive Surgery, Zhejiang Provincial People's Hospital, Affiliated People's Hospital, Hangzhou Medical College, Hangzhou, China.
³ Hangzhou Normal University Division of Health Sciences, Hangzhou, China.
⁴ Department of Dermatology, The Affiliated Hospital of The NCO School, The Army Medical University, Shijiazhuang, China.

^# Contributed equally.

Abstract

Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a common inflammatory skin disease that significantly affects patients' quality of life. This study aimed to evaluate the therapeutic potential of cell-free fat extract (FE) in AD. In this study, the therapeutic effect of DNCB-induced AD mouse models was investigated. Dermatitis scores and transepidermal water loss (TEWL) were recorded to evaluate the severity of dermatitis. Histological analysis and cytokines measurement were conducted to assess the therapeutic effect. Additionally, the ability of FE to protect cells from ROS-induced damage and its ROS scavenging capacity both in vitro and in vivo were investigated. Furthermore, we performed Th1/2 cell differentiation with and without FE to elucidate the underlying therapeutic mechanism. FE reduced apoptosis and cell death of HaCat cells exposed to oxidative stress. Moreover, FE exhibited concentration-dependent antioxidant activity and scavenged ROS both in vitro and vivo. Treatment with FE alleviated AD symptoms in mice, as evidenced by improved TEWL, restored epidermis thickness, reduced mast cell infiltration, decreased DNA oxidative damage and lower inflammatory cytokines like IFN-γ, IL-4, and IL-13. FE also inhibited the differentiation of Th2 cells in vitro. Our findings indicate that FE regulates oxidative stress and mitigates Th2-mediated inflammation in atopic dermatitis by inhibiting Th2 cell differentiation, suggesting that FE has the potential as a future treatment option for AD.

Keywords: DNCB; Th2 inflammatory; atopic dermatitis; cell-free fat extract; oxidative stress.

Grants and funding

The author(s) declare that financial support was received for the research, authorship, and/or publication of this article. This work was supported by Zhejiang Provincial Health Science and Technology Program (2022KY511, 2023KY527, 2023KY031, and 2024KY674) and Outstanding Scientific Research Start-up Fund of Zhejiang Provincial People’s Hospital (ZRY 2021C013 and ZRY 2021A001). This research was also supported by Zhejiang Provincial Natural Science Foundation of China under Grant No. LQ22H160020 and No. LGF21H150004 and 2022 General Scientific Research Project of Zhejiang Provincial Department of Education—Special Project for Reform of Professional Degree Graduate Training Mode (Y202248720).