Nitric oxide as a target for dietary intervention in colitis

描述（由申请人提供）：目前结肠炎的医疗干预包括应用抗炎和/或免疫抑制剂，每种药物都因出现不良副作用而复杂化。尽管有治疗选择，但对许多患者而言，疾病仍然难治，具有间歇性缓解期。显然，需要新的治疗策略来减轻结肠炎的影响和后遗症。替代医学的使用在美国很常见，40%的结肠炎患者目前使用膳食补充剂。然而，使用替代药物的科学证据往往缺乏或薄弱，潜在的有益作用机制尚未得到严格评估。诱导型一氧化氮合酶（iNOS）过度产生一氧化氮已被认为是结肠炎的致病因素。在这里，我们假设两种抗氧化草药补充剂，银杏和西洋参（西洋参），将通过抑制一氧化氮合酶抑制结肠炎，抑制随后的一氧化氮产生，从而调节一氧化氮诱导的DNA损伤。虽然已发表的研究表明，银杏和人参都抑制各种细胞类型中一氧化氮的产生，但尚未研究它们在人类结直肠细胞中的作用。本项目的目的是确定银杏和人参调节人结肠癌细胞中一氧化氮产生和一氧化氮诱导的DNA损伤的作用和机制。我们还将确定银杏或人参是否减少结肠炎，并通过使用诱导结肠炎的iNOS-/-和iNOS+/+小鼠来检查这是否是一氧化氮介导的事件。除了病理学检查结肠炎的程度，我们将通过检查银杏和人参对炎症驱动的DNA损伤的影响来扩展体外研究结果。由于pRb过度磷酸化与癌症发生有关，并且在结肠炎中过度磷酸化，我们将研究银杏和人参对pRb过度磷酸化的影响。这些研究应提供强有力的临床前证据，银杏和人参的潜在用途，在改善实验性结肠炎，通过确定的分子途径。本申请的总体目标是为公众提供一些保证，即膳食补充剂银杏和人参具有缓解结肠炎的能力。

DESCRIPTION (provided by applicant): Current medical interventions for colitis consist of application of anti-inflammatory and/or immunosuppressive agents, each complicated by the development of undesirable side effects. Despite treatment options, for many patients disease remains refractory with episodic periods of remission. Clearly, novel therapeutic strategies are needed to lessen the impact and sequelae of colitis. Use of alternative medicine is common in the United States and 40% of colitis suffers currently use dietary supplements. However, the scientific evidence for the use of alternative medicines is often lacking or weak, and potentially beneficial mechanisms of action have not rigorously been assessed. Overproduction of nitric oxide by inducible nitric oxide synthase (iNOS) has been proposed as a pathogenic factor in colitis. Here, we postulate that two antioxidant herbal supplements, Ginkgo biloba and American ginseng (Panax quinquefolis), will inhibit colitis through the inhibition of nitric oxide synthase, inhibiting subsequent nitric oxide production, and thus modulate nitric oxide-induced DNA damage. Although published studies have shown ginkgo and ginseng both inhibit nitric oxide production in various cell types, their effects in human colorectal cells have not been studied. An objective of this project is to determine the effects and mechanisms by which ginkgo and ginseng modulate nitric oxide production and nitric oxide induced DNA damage in human colon cancer cells. We will also determine whether ginkgo or ginseng reduce colitis and examine whether this is a nitric oxide- mediated event by using iNOS-/- and iNOS+/+ mice with induced colitis. In addition to pathology to examine the extent of colitis, we will extend in vitro findings by examining the effects of ginkgo and ginseng on inflammation-driven DNA damage. Because pRb hyperphosphorylation is associated with carcinogenesis and it is hyperphosphorylated in colitis, we will examine the effects of ginkgo and ginseng on pRb hyperphosphorylation. These studies should provide strong pre-clinical evidence for the potential use of ginkgo and ginseng in the amelioration of experimental colitis through defined molecular pathways. The overall goal of this application is to provide the public some assurance that the dietary supplements gingko and ginseng, have the capacity to alleviate colitis.