Frontiers in Pharmacology (Jan 2018)

Traditional Herbal Medicine-Derived Sulforaphene LFS-01 Reverses Colitis in Mice by Selectively Altering the Gut Microbiota and Promoting Intestinal Gamma-Delta T Cells

  • Ming Li,
  • Jiali Gao,
  • Yan Tang,
  • Meishuo Liu,
  • Sijin Wu,
  • Kunli Qu,
  • Xiangyu Long,
  • Huajun Li,
  • Min Liu,
  • Yinhui Liu,
  • Jieli Yuan,
  • Lei Mao,
  • Yu Liu,
  • Xiliang Zheng,
  • Erkang Wang,
  • Jin Wang,
  • Jin Wang,
  • Yongliang Yang

DOI
https://doi.org/10.3389/fphar.2017.00959
Journal volume & issue
Vol. 8

Abstract

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Sulforaphene (LFS-01) is a natural compound derived from traditional herbal medicine. Here, we show that oral administration of LFS-01 is able to dramatically alter the skewed gut microbiota and reverse colitis in model mice associated with an increase of intestinal γδT cells. Through 16S rDNA sequencing, we showed that LFS-01 can selectively suppress enteric pathogens such as Escherichia–Shigella and Helicobacter whereas the protective strains including Lactobacillus and Lachnospiraceae were significantly expanded after LFS-01 treatment. Interestingly, we demonstrated that LFS-01 administration can significantly promote the IL-17+γδT cells in model mice in response to the expanded Lactobacillus. We verified that the intracellular components of Lactobacillus can stimulate the growth of IL-17+γδT cells upon preincubation. The increased IL-17A after LFS-01 treatment in turn recovers the disrupted occludin subcellular location and protects the epithelial barrier in the colon of model mice. Remarkably, LFS-01 does not show apparent toxicity to animals and we demonstrated that LFS-01 also exerts strong protective effects in TNBS-induced colitis rats. Therefore, LFS-01 holds great promise for the treatment of inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) and warrants translation for use in clinical trials. Our work provided a new avenue for the treatment of IBD based on the strategy of harnessing intestinal symbiosis.

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