Ginger-Derived Compound May Help Prevent Lupus and Antiphospholipid Syndrome
University of Michigan’s Dr. Ramadan
Ali and colleagues looked at lupus, a disease which attacks the body’s own
immune system, and its often associated condition antiphospholipid syndrome,
which causes blood clots, since both cause widespread inflammation and damage
organs overtime.
In mice with either antiphospholipid
syndrome or lupus, 6-gingerol prevented neutrophil extracellular trap (NET)
release, which is triggered by the autoantibodies that these diseases produce.
“NETs come from white blood cells called neutrophils,” Dr. Ali said.
“These sticky spider-web like
structures are formed when autoantibodies interact with receptors on the
neutrophil’s surface.”
“They play an important role in the
pathogenesis of lupus and antiphospholipid syndrome where they trigger
autoantibody formation and contribute to blood vessel clotting and damage.”
Dr. Ali and co-authors discovered
that after giving 6-gingerol, the mice had lower levels of NETs.
Their tendency to make clots was
also drastically reduced and 6-gingerol appeared to inhibit neutrophil enzymes
called phosphodiesterases, which in turn reduced neutrophil activation.
But the most surprising find of all
was that the mice, regardless of whether they had antiphospholipid syndrome or
lupus, had reduced autoantibodies suggesting the inflammatory cycle,
autoantibodies stimulating NETs which stimulate more autoantibodies, was
broken.
Although the study was done in mouse
models, the researchers think the preclinical data, showing that 6-gingerol has
anti-neutrophil properties that may protect against autoimmune disease
progression, encourages clinical trial development.
“As for basically all treatments in
our field, one size does not fit all,” said Dr. Jason Knight, also from the
University of Michigan.
“But, I wonder if there is a
subgroup of autoimmune patients with hyperactive neutrophils who might benefit
from increased intake of 6-gingerol.”
“It will be important to study
neutrophils before and after treatment so we can determine the subgroup most
likely to see benefit.”
6-gingerol can’t be the primary
therapy for someone with active antiphospholipid syndrome or lupus, but the
team is interested to see if the natural supplement may help those at high risk
for disease development.
“Those that have autoantibodies, but
don’t have activated disease, may benefit from this treatment if 6-gingerol
proves to be a protective agent in humans as it does in mice,” Dr. Ali said.
“Patients with active disease take
blood thinners, but what if there was also a natural supplement that helped
reduce the amount of clots they produce? And what if we could decrease their
autoantibodies?”
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Ramadan A. Ali et al.
Anti-neutrophil properties of natural gingerols in models of lupus. JCI
Insight, published online December 29, 2020; doi:
10.1172/jci.insight.138385