Apoptotic or Antiproliferative Activity of Natural Products against Keratinocytes for the Treatment of Psoriasis

Abstract

Natural products or herbs can be used as an effective therapy for treating psoriasis, an autoimmune skin disease that involves keratinocyte overproliferation. It has been demonstrated that phytomedicine, which is used for psoriasis patients, provides some advantages, including natural sources, a lower risk of adverse effects, and the avoidance of dissatisfaction with conventional therapy. The herbal products’ structural diversity and multiple mechanisms of action have enabled the synergistic activity to mitigate psoriasis. In recent years, the concept of using natural products as antiproliferative agents in psoriasis treatment has attracted increasing attention in basic and clinical investigations. This review highlights the development of an apoptotic or antiproliferatic strategy for natural-product management in the treatment of psoriasis. We systematically introduce the concepts and molecular mechanisms of keratinocyte-proliferation inhibition by crude extracts or natural compounds that were isolated from natural resources, especially plants. Most of these studies focus on evaluation through an in vitro keratinocyte model and an in vivo psoriasis-like animal model. Topical delivery is the major route for the in vivo or clinical administration of these natural products. The potential use of antiproliferative phytomedicine on hyperproliferative keratinocytes suggests a way forward for generating advances in the field of psoriasis therapy.

Elevated IL-22 in psoriasis plays an anti-apoptotic role in keratinocytes through mediating Bcl-xL/Bax

“…Apoptosis is an autonomous and orderly process of cell death [21]. Several effective treatments provoke apoptosis of proliferating keratinocyte in psoriasis patients, including methotrexate, Infliximab, natural products or herbs and narrowband ultraviolet B phototherapy [11,[22][23][24]. Therefore, the regression of psoriasis at least in part seems to involve apoptosis.…”

Dihydrochalcone Derivatives from Populus balsamifera L. Buds for the Treatment of Psoriasis

“…In fact, Figure 3 presents the thickness of the living epidermis treated with one or another of the balsacones and all of them presented results similar to the use of MTX. BA and BC effected an improvement of 56% and 47% respectively compared to 36% for MTX; these are very interesting results for potential antipsoriatic candidates [36]. Interestingly, these five compounds have a similar efficacy to MTX on the proliferation of psoriatic keratinocytes at doses up to 15, 9, 5, 16, and 31 times lower with BA, BB, BC, BK, an BD, respectively.…”

18β-Glycyrrhetinic acid induces human HaCaT keratinocytes apoptosis through ROS-mediated PI3K-Akt signaling pathway and ameliorates IMQ-induced psoriasis-like skin lesions in mice

“…***P < 0.001 cytokines to exacerbate inflammatory response, creating a positive feedback loop [3][4][5]. Inhibiting keratinocytes proliferation is considered to be potentially useful for psoriasis management because the recovery from psoriatic to normal epidermis requires rebalanced homeostasis of keratinocyte growth and death [7,10,17,41,42]. The prescribed antipsoriatic drugs or strategies, such as methotrexate, dithranol, vitamin D3 derivatives and PUVA phototherapy, was shown to exert the therapeutic effect, to a great extent, through counteracting keratinocyte hyperproliferation or regulating keratinocyte differentiation [10,43].…”

“…Hyperproliferative keratinocytes respond to the cytokines produced by immune cells and in turn produce pro-inflammatory cytokines amplifying the local immune responses through formation of a positive feedback loop, thereby contributing to sustain persistence of psoriasis lesions [3][4][5]. Hence, agents capable of inhibiting proliferation, inducing apoptosis of keratinocytes are potentially useful for psoriasis treatment [6][7][8][9][10].…”