Dan-Lou tablets reduce inflammatory response by inhibiting the activation of NLRP3 inflammasome for coronary heart disease.

Background: The activation of the NLRP3 inflammasome has recently been revealed as a novel pathological mechanism of coronary heart disease (CHD). The Dan-Lou tablets (DLT) is widely used in the clinical treatment of CHD and prescription characterized by multi-component and multi-target regulation. However, the anti-inflammatory mechanism of DLT in the treatment of CHD remains unclear.

Purpose: This study aimed to evaluate the effect of DLT in the treatment of CHD on the priming and activation of the NLRP3 inflammasome and to investigate the underlying anti-inflammatory mechanisms.

Methods: First, CHD rats model were established by a high-fat diet combined with left anterior coronary artery ligation (LADCA) followed by DLT intervention. The therapeutic effect of DLT was evaluated according to cardiac function, lipid level, and cardiac histopathology. Next, data-independent acquisition (DIA) proteomics was used to identify the key differential proteins of DLT intervention in CHD rats, and bioinformatics analysis was performed. Finally, the differentially expressed proteins in the NOD-like signaling pathway were verified based on bioinformatics results, and the priming and activation steps of the NLRP3 inflammasome were detected.

Results: In this study, a high-fat diet combined with LADCA was utilized to generate a CHD model, and DLT alleviated myocardial ischemia injury by inhibiting lipid deposition and inflammatory response. Proteomic studies observed that the RNF31, TXN2, and GBP2 of the NOD-like receptor signaling pathway were verified as the key targets of DLT in inhibiting myocardial injury in CHD rats. Furthermore, DLT in the treatment of CHD rats may function through the downregulation of P2X7R expression, thereby interfering with the priming (TLR4/MyD88/NF-κB) and activation (NLRP3/ASC/Caspase-1) of the NLRP3 inflammasome regulated by HSP90, and may then reduce the release of the IL-1β and IL-18 inflammatory factors to play an anti-myocardial injury effect.

Conclusion: Our findings elucidate a novel mechanism of DLT and provide some new drug evaluation targets and therapeutic strategies for CHD. This study innovatively proposed that DLT further exerts an anti-myocardial injury effect by inhibiting P2X7R expression, thereby interfering with the priming (TLR4/MyD88/NF-κB) and activation (NLRP3/ASC/Caspase-1) of the NLRP3 inflammasome regulated by HSP90, and then downregulates the release of the IL-1β and IL-18 inflammatory factors.