Ursolic acid inhibits NLRP3 inflammasome activation and alleviates vascular smooth muscle injury in Kawasaki disease

Kawasaki disease (KD) is a kind of autoimmune disease with systemic vasculitis as the main pathological change. It is critical to explore potential new therapeutic agents to address KD disease and its complications. Ursolic acid (UA) is a pentacyclic triterpene (PT) carboxylic acid that has a number of important pharmacological activities, however, the possible effects of UA on the progression of KD and the mechanism are still unclear. Here we investigated the effects of UA on KD. We revealed that UA improved arterial injury in KD mice. UA improved vascular inflammation in KD mice. In addition, Ursolic suppressed NLR Family Pyrin Domain Containing 3 (NLRP3) inflammasome activation. We further found UA restrained vascular smooth muscle cell (VSMC) dedifferentiation, therefore suppressing KD progression. In summary, UA suppressed NLRP3 inflammasome activation as well as alleviated vascular smooth muscle injury in KD. We thought UA could act as a drug of KD.

Kawasaki disease (KD); Ursolic acid (UA); Inflammation; NLRP3 inflammasome; Dedifferentiation

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