Anti-inflammatory Effects of Lecania gerlachei Extract Collected from the Antarctic King Sejong Island

• Published in: Biotechnology and bioprocess engineering Vol. 25; no. 4; pp. 543 - 550
• Main Authors: Min, Seul Ki, Kim, Jung Eun, Hong, Ju-Mi, Yim, Joung Han, Park, Hyun, Youn, Ui Joung, Han, Se Jong, Kim, Il-Chan
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: Seoul The Korean Society for Biotechnology and Bioengineering 01.08.2020; Springer Nature B.V; 한국생물공학회
• Subjects: Antarctic region; anti-inflammatory activity; asthma; Biotechnology; Chemistry; Chemistry and Materials Science; Collagen; Cyclooxygenase-2; Damage accumulation; Desalination; Detoxification; Diet; Dietary minerals; Food intake; Hepatocytes; Hepatotoxicity; immunomodulators; inducible nitric oxide synthase; Industrial and Production Engineering; Inflammation; interleukin-1alpha; interleukin-6; Lecania; lichens; Liver; macrophages; Magma; methanol; mice; Mineral water; Minerals; neoplasms; NF-κB protein; Nitric oxide; Nitric-oxide synthase; protein content; Proteins; Research Paper; Rheumatoid arthritis; Seawater; Silymarin; Thioacetamide; transcription factor NF-kappa B; tumor necrosis factor-alpha; Tumor necrosis factor-TNF; 생물공학; Antarctic region; antiinflammatory properties; lichens; Antarctica; nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB) pathway
• ISSN: 1226-8372; 1976-3816
• DOI: 10.1007/s12257-019-0371-4

Chronic inflammation is the cause of various diseases such as rheumatoid arthritis and asthma, with a large number of people suffering from them. There have been many reports that even link cancer to inflammation, so the development of sophisticated and powerful drugs continues to be in demand. Here we demonstrate that the methanol extract of Lecania gerlachei (LGME), a lichen member found in the extreme Antarctic environment, exhibits anti-inflammatory activities. Treatment of lipopoly-saccharide (LPS) stimulated Raw 264.7 murine macrophage cells with LGME reduced nitric oxide (NO) immune modulator production, and also down-regulated inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS), pro-inflammatory interleukin 6, 1ß and 1α (IL-6, IL-1ß and IL-1α), and tumor necrosis factor α (TNF-α) at both transcript and protein levels, in a concentration dependent manner. Furthermore, it was found that these effects were mediated by nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB) signaling inhibition. Thus, our findings may contribute towards the development of novel inflammatory drugs.