Search for the target molecule of the licorice component inhibiting NLRP3 inflammasome and development into drug discovery research

2017 Fiscal Year Final Research Report

• Project/Area Number: 15K07960
• Research Category: Grant-in-Aid for Scientific Research (C)
• Allocation Type: Multi-year Fund
• Section: 一般
• Research Field: Biological pharmacy
• Research Institution: Toyama Prefectural Institute. for Pharmaceutical Research.
• Principal Investigator: HONDA Hiroe 富山県薬事研究所, 主任研究員 (10463134)
• Co-Investigator(Renkei-kenkyūsha): NAGAI Yoshinori 富山大学, 大学院医学薬学研究部(医学), 客員教授 (30431761)
• Project Period (FY): 2015-04-01 – 2018-03-31
• Keywords: NLRP3 / IL-1β / 糖尿病 / イソリクイリチゲニン

Outline of Final Research Achievements

Isoliquiritigenin(ILG) , one of the licorice components, suppressed visceral adipose tissue inflammation and fibrosis in high-fat diet (HFD)-fed model mice of type 2 diabetes. As a result of in-vitro analysis, ILG suppressed the expression of fibrosis-related genes induced by Mincle and TLR4 in macrophages.
We also demonstrated that the administration of ILG to db/db mice improves insulin resistance and glucose tolerance test. In db/db mice, ILG did not suppress the chronic inflammation of visceral adipose tissue unlike HFD-fed mice, and improved the pancreatic damage state.
In addition, we identified several candidate target proteins of ILG inhibiting the NLRP3 inflammasome activation by the DARTS method.

Free Research Field

免疫学