With the increasing incidence of chronic inflammatory diseases (rheumatoid arthritis, ulcerative colitis, spondyloarthritis, psoriasis, Crohn's disease ...) and lifelong treatment with drugs that cause many side effects, there is also increasing interest in natural anti-inflammatory drugs. Boswellia serrata is also a lesser-known in Slovenia, but well-established anti-inflammatory medicinal plant elsewhere. Boswellia produces a resin that contains acetyl-11-keto-β-boswellic acid, which is the carrier of its anti-inflammatory action. The purpose of our experimental work was to understand in more detail the action of boswellic acid at molecular level and thus to determine the target group of diseases for treatment with boswellia extract.
In order to obtain a complete picture of events, we chose 2-D electrophoresis as an analytical method. To Caco-2 cells, lipopolysaccharide (LPS) was added first as an inflammatory trigger. Boswellia extract was then added to these same cells with LPS. The cell lysates were transferred to the laboratory at the Biotechnical Faculty, where 2-D electrophoresis was performed. Images of 2-D gels were compared using 2-D Dymension program to look for over and under-expressed protein spots. We found four spots that were overexpressed in the cells with added LPS, relative to the cells themselves. When comparing the same proteinsin the images of cells with added boswellia, compared to the LPS itself, they were downregulated. Selected protein spots were sent to the Ruđer Boškovič Institute, where the proteins were identified. The results showed that boswellia had an inhibitory effect on the calmodulin. Calmodulin is a calcium binding protein and is involved in many physiological processes in the body, one of the areas in inflammation. It is involved in the process of formation of IL-6, TNF-α, IL-1β, IL-2; at the same time, it could potentially act as an RAF-1 inhibitor that inhibits cancer cell proliferation.
There are probably even more pharmacological effects of boswellia extract, so the pathways of its action are open for further research. Given the safety of the natural medicinal plant Boswellia serrata, which was verified by a metabolic activity test, it could potentially be officially recognized as a medicinal plant and used in milder forms of chronic inflammatory diseases with more intensive research.
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