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Psoriasis vulgaris (PV) is a common inflammatory skin disorder with immune imbalance contributing to its pathology. It has been reported that auranofin, a known anti-rheumatic drug, has the therapeutic effects on inflammatory diseases. However, the effects and underlying mechanisms of auranofin on PV have not been reported. Here, we showed that auranofin significantly attenuated the mixture of five proinflammatory cytokines (termed as M5) induced hyperproliferation and inflammation in HaCaT cells, a kind of human immortalized keratinocyte cell line. Topical administration of auranofin markedly alleviated the imiquimod (IMQ)-induced mouse psoriatic dermatitis both in appearance and in pathology. The psoriasis area and severity index (PASI) score, acanthosis, dermal infiltrated inflammatory cells and Ki-67 expression were improved obviously. The results of RNA-sequencing from both M5-induced HaCaT cells and IMQ-treated mouse dermatitis showed that auranofin could regulate inflammation-related signaling pathway. Meanwhile, we observed that fatty acid 2-hydroxylase (FA2H), a key molecule in lipid metabolism, was significantly increased after auraonfin treatment in both M5-induced HaCaT cells and IMQ-treated mouse skin. Knockdown of FA2H in HaCaT cells remarkably inhibited cell apoptosis, increased cell proliferation and the expression profiles of inflammatory-related genes, whereas FA2H overexpression had opposite effect. In conclusion, auranofin notably alleviated IMQ-induced psoriasis-like skin inflammation, which might be mediated by increasing FA2H expression, suggesting its potential to be a novel strategy for psoriasis treatment.

This study was aimed to investigate the chemical composition, antioxidant activities and hepatoprotective effect of flavonoids from Ziziphus jujuba cv. Jinsixiaozao (ZJF). The composition of ZJF was analyzed by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) and Liquid chromatography–mass spectrometry (LC–MS), and antioxidant properties were investigated by biological assays in vitro. The hepatoprotective activity of ZJF was evaluated in acetaminophen (APAP)-treated BALB/c mice. Results indicate that ZJF displayed significant antioxidant capacity. Pretreatment with ZJF significantly decreased APAP-elevated serum alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), alkaline phosphatase (ALP) and total bilirubin (TB). Activities of superoxide dismutase (SOD) and glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px) were enhanced with ZJF administration, while malondialdehyde (MDA) level and glutathione (GSH) depletion were reduced. Meanwhile, ZJF reversed the suppression of nuclear factor erythroid 2-related factor 2 (Nrf2) nuclear translocation, and up-regulated the protein expression of NAD(P)H: quinone oxidoreductase 1(NQO1) in liver damage mice. Furthermore, ZJF attenuated APAP-induced inflammatory mediator production, such as nitric oxide (NO), tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α), interleukin-6 (IL-6) and interleukin-1β (IL-1β). Expression of p65 showed that ZJF dampened nuclear factor-κB (NF-κB) activation. The results strongly indicate that the hepatoprotective role of ZJF in APAP-induced hepatotoxicity might result from its induction of antioxidant defense via activation of Nrf2 and reduction of inflammation via inhibition of NF-κB.