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Original Research

Open Access

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

  • Guoqing Chen1,2
  • Yanru Wang2
  • Ying Zhang2
  • Fang Gu2
  • Tong Yu2,*,

1Graduate School, Zhejiang Chinese Medical University, 310014 Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China

2Center for Reproductive Medicine, Department of Pediatrics, Zhejiang Provincial People’s Hospital (Affiliated People’s Hospital), Hangzhou Medical College, 310014 Hangzhou, Zhejiang, China

DOI: 10.22514/sv.2024.041 Vol.20,Issue 4,April 2024 pp.46-51

Submitted: 13 December 2023 Accepted: 12 March 2024

Published: 08 April 2024

*Corresponding Author(s): Tong Yu E-mail: Yutong_688@163.com

Abstract

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.


Keywords

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


Cite and Share

Guoqing Chen,Yanru Wang,Ying Zhang,Fang Gu,Tong Yu. Ursolic acid inhibits NLRP3 inflammasome activation and alleviates vascular smooth muscle injury in Kawasaki disease. Signa Vitae. 2024. 20(4);46-51.

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