Natural Products for the Treatment of Autoimmune Arthritis: Their Mechanisms of Action, Targeted Delivery, and Interplay with the Host Microbiome

Abstract

Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) is a chronic, debilitating illness characterized by painful swelling of the joints, inflammation of the synovial lining of the joints, and damage to cartilage and bone. Several anti-inflammatory and disease-modifying drugs are available for RA therapy. However, the prolonged use of these drugs is associated with severe side effects. Furthermore, these drugs are effective only in a proportion of RA patients. Hence, there is a need to search for new therapeutic agents that are effective yet safe. Interestingly, a variety of herbs and other natural products offer a vast resource for such anti-arthritic agents. We discuss here the basic features of RA pathogenesis; the commonly used animal models of RA; the mainstream drugs used for RA; the use of well-characterized natural products possessing anti-arthritic activity; the application of nanoparticles for efficient delivery of such products; and the interplay between dietary products and the host microbiome for maintenance of health and disease induction. We believe that with several advances in the past decade in the characterization and functional studies of natural products, the stage is set for widespread clinical testing and/or use of these products for the treatment of RA and other diseases.

Design and synthesis of novel celastrol derivative and its antitumor activity in hepatoma cells and antiangiogenic activity in zebrafish

“…As a natural product, celastrol was mainly extracted from Tripterygium wilfordii and listed as one of the five traditional natural medicinal compounds most likely to be developed as modern drugs (Corson & Crews, 2007). Celastrol revealed multiple activity on immunity (Dudics et al, 2018), diabetes (Pfuhlmann et al, 2019) and inflammatory (Allen et al, 2019) and tumor diseases (Li et al, 2019). To reduce its toxicity and optimize its pharmacological properties, many superior derivatives were generated as indicated in other reports.…”

Triptolide‐induced hepatotoxicity via apoptosis and autophagy in zebrafish

“…F. is a traditional Chinese medicine, which is often used for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis (Wang et al, ). A large number of studies confirmed triptolide (TP) as one of its main active compounds (Dudics et al, ; Fan et al, ). Besides its anti‐inflammatory activity, it also has many other pharmacological effects, including anti‐oxidative, anti‐Alzheimer's disease and anti‐tumor properties (Li, Jiang, & Zhang, ).…”

“…F. is a traditional Chinese medicine, which is often used for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis . A large number of studies confirmed triptolide (TP) as one of its main active compounds (Dudics et al, 2018;Fan et al, 2018).…”

Identification of Drug Targets and Potential Molecular Mechanisms of Wantong Jingu Tablet in Treatment of Rats with Collagen-Induced Arthritis based on 16S rDNA High-Throughput Sequencing and Metabolomic Analysis

“…Rheumatoid arthritis (RA) characterized by joint swelling, synovial in ammation, and cartilage and bone destruction, is a chronic autoimmune disease that impairs joint movements [2]. An increasing number of RA patients and those with other diseases are selecting natural products to satisfy their healthcare needs [18]. WJT is a type of traditional Chinese medicine (TCM) that is a mixture of herbal compounds, and has been used for clinical treatments for many years.…”