Maslinic Acid Enhances Signals for the Recruitment of Macrophages and Their Differentiation to M1 State

Abstract

The inflammatory process is involved in the genesis and evolution of different diseases like obesity, cardiovascular disease, and cancer. Macrophages play a central role in inflammation. In addition, they can regulate some stages of cancer development. Macrophages can polarize into M1 or M2 functional phenotype depending on the cytokines present in the tissue microenvironment. On the other hand, triterpenes found in virgin olive oil are described to present different properties, such as antitumoral and anti-inflammatory activity. The present study was designed to elucidate if the four major triterpenes found in virgin olive oil (oleanolic acid, maslinic acid, uvaol, and erythrodiol) are able to enhance M1 macrophage response which represents an important defense mechanism against cancer. Our results indicated that maslinic acid modulated the inflammatory response by enhancing the production of IL-8, IL-1α, and IL-1β; it promoted M1 response through the synthesis of IFN-γ; and finally it did not modify significantly the levels of NFκβ or NO. Overall, our results showed that maslinic acid could prevent chronic inflammation, which represents a crucial step in the development of some cancers.

Effects of Vitex trifolia L. leaf extracts and phytoconstituents on cytokine production in human U937 macrophages

“…In our study, maslinic acid suppressed TNF-α and enhanced IL-1β in human U937 macrophages ( Fig. 4g and h), which is in alignment with observations by others [64][65][66][67]. The other two terpenoids identified in our study, α-amyrin and β-amyrin (Fig.…”

“…The secretion of the inflammatory cytokines IL-6 and TNF-α from LPS-stimulated murine macrophages were significantly reduced (p < 0.01) by 50 μM and 100 μM of maslinic acid [65]. In THP-1 cells, maslinic acid enhanced the recruitment of macrophages by elevating the production of IL-8, IL-1α, and IL-1β [66]. Maslinic acid suppressed TNFα production in RAW264.7 cells, and maslinic acid had anti-inflammatory effects in carrageenan-induced paw edema model, as well as anti-arthritis effects in mice models of arthritis [67].…”

Anti‐inflammatory and anti‐arthritic effects of pentacyclic triterpenoids maslinic acid through NF‐κB inactivation

“…Although Sánchez‐Quesada et al. has reported that MA could prevent chronic inflammation by modulating macrophage differentiation between type I helper T cells and type II helper T cells in human acute monocytic leukemia cell line THP‐1 , as far as we know, this is the first report on the suppressive effect of MA on chronic inflammatory response in vivo. TNF‐α is one of the major inflammatory cytokines that has the capacity to activate prime neutrophils for their various functions .…”

Maslinic acid promotes autophagy by disrupting the interaction between Bcl2 and Beclin1 in rat pheochromocytoma PC12 cells

“…This anti-tumor function, which has attracted the most attention [ 30 – 33 ], is reported to be closely related to apoptotic pathway [ 12 , 34 – 36 ] but the underlying mechanism remains to be elucidated. One study investigated the expression level of several inflammatory factors, allowing the authors to argue that MA exerts anti-tumor effect by preventing chronic inflammation which represents a crucial step in the development of some cancers [ 37 ]. However, the evidence of molecular mechanism is to be provided.…”