Water extract of Cynanchi atrati Radix regulates inflammation and apoptotic cell death through suppression of IKK-mediated NF-κB signaling

Cynanchi atrati Radix inhibits NF-κB activation at the level of IKK complex, and has a potential for regulating inflammatory or cancerous condition. Cynanchi atrati Radix has been traditionally used as an anti-inflammatory agent to treat febrile diseases, acute urinary infection or subcutaneous pyogenic infection with invasion of the pathogenic factors. Nuclear factor (NF)-κB is a pleiotropic transcriptional factor of many genes involved in inflammatory and anti-apoptotic responses. To identify a novel, potent inhibitor of NF-κB signaling pathway, a plant extract library of traditional oriental medicine was screened for the capability to block the NF-κB activity in cells overexpressing toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4), and then evaluated the anti-inflammatory and pro-apoptotic functions of water extract of Cynanchi atrati Radix (WECR) in macrophages and cancer cells, respectively. The effect of WECR on the proinflammatory mediators (inducible NO synthase [iNOS], cyclooxygenase [COX]-2), IκB-α degradation, RelA/p65 phosphorylation and caspase cleavages were measured by immunblotting. NF-κB transcriptional activity, IκB kinase (IKK) activity and nitric oxide (NO) production was measured using the luciferase assay, in vitro kinase assay and Griess reaction. WECR efficiently inhibited LPS-induced expression of proinflammatory mediators including iNOS and COX-2. IKK kinase activity, IκB-α degradation, nuclear translocation of RelA/p65 and NF-κB transcriptional activity induced by LPS were suppressed by WECR. Furthermore, WECR dramatically enhances the apoptotic response, as evident by the combination with tumor necrosis factor (TNF) was able to induce the cytotoxic action through caspase-dependent pathway. These results indicate that WECR has a potential to inhibit IKK-mediated NF-κB activation, and is a valuable compound for modulating inflammatory or cancerous conditions.