Abstract

TARGETING CRUCIAL INFLAMMATORY SIGNALING MOLECULES WITH PLANT NATURAL PRODUCTS IN INFLAMMATORY DISEASES

Christian Hanson, Loveth O Linus, Tao Li, Ru Chen, Shanshan Hou, Guangli Zhang, Haiwei Zhang and Jihua Fu*

Abstract

The majority of recent studies in anti-inflammatory therapeutics is focused on the discovery of agents that target key inflammatory factors in the fight against chronic inflammatory diseases (CIDs). Increasing body of evidence from research on a large number of plant secondary metabolites have demonstrated that these natural plant agents have potent anti-inflammatory as well as antioxidant abilities. Current progress in metabolomics and genomics have capacitated researchers to adequately evaluate the prospective use of natural anti-inflammatory agents for the prevention and treatment of a variety of CIDs. The prophylactic actions of many anti-inflammatory Plant natural agents rest on their actions on cellular protection such as antioxidant enzyme systems and the stimulation of inflammatory reactions, usually through targeting particular key inflammatory mediators like cytokine, transcription factors, adhesion molecules, inflammatory enzymes among others. This present review discusses current discoveries and hypotheses on the molecular mechanisms through which a variety of inflammatory actions are linked to disease processes and the particular natural agents that may inhibit inflammation and the associated disease progression both in vitro and in vivo.

Keywords: Plant natural product, Inflammation, key cell signaling inhibition, chronic inflammatory disorders.