Establishment of in vitro cultures of Sinningia warmingii (Hiern) Chautems (Gesneriaceae) for the prospection of bioactives with potential application in psoriasis

• Grant number: 23/14789-7
• Support Opportunities: Scholarships in Brazil - Scientific Initiation
• Start date: April 01, 2024
• End date: March 31, 2025
• Field of knowledge: Health Sciences - Pharmacy
• Principal Investigator: Marcos José Salvador
• Grantee: André Líbero Garcia
• Host Institution: Instituto de Biologia (IB). Universidade Estadual de Campinas (UNICAMP). Campinas , SP, Brazil

Abstract

Psoriasis is a chronic inflammatory skin disease, which affects approximately 3% of the world's population, with a large polymorphism of clinical expression. Psoriasis causes not only physical damage, but also psychological damage, since the lesions can be manifested on the face, scalp and hands and can present such severe forms that they resemble burns. Among the triggering and maintenance factors of inflammation in psoriasis are a subset of T cells, as well as the overexpression of pro-inflammatory cytokines (IL-17, IL-32, IL-1, IL-1², IL-18, IL-36 and IL-33) and tumor necrosis factor alpha TNF-±. The TNF-± factor is responsible for the increase in the proliferation of keratinocytes and endothelial cells, as well as corroborates with a cyclic inflammatory process due to the increase in lymphocyte recirculation. As a result, lesions and plaques appear on the skin. These plaques are formed at the site of the immune response and this whole process can lead to cell death, resulting in peeling skin. Topical treatment, which is the least aggressive, can cause serious side effects, and systemic medications, in addition to having even more severe effects on the body, have a high cost that few people with psoriasis can afford. In this context, the search for new therapeutic resources containing natural products as actives has great potential for application in the treatment of psoriasis, aiming at fewer side effects than those presented by the current drugs available for therapy. Studies carried out with some Sinningia species, family Gesneriaceae, showed that this family of plants is characterized by presenting secondary metabolites with chemical diversity and it was observed that substances biosynthesized by this plant taxon have promising biological activities such as antioxidant, anticancer, anti-inflammatory, among others. others. Thus, this research project aims to establish in vitro cell cultures of the plant Sinningia warmingii (Hiern) Chautems (Gesneriaceae) and to evaluate metabolic responses in a bioguided study, for the prospect of bioactive molecules with anti-inflammatory effect on keratinocytes and macrophages for application in psoriasis. For this purpose, in vitro cultures of the plant and callus cultures will be established, crude extracts will be obtained, chemical analyzes in a dereplication approach, evaluation of antioxidant activity (ORAC-FL), cytotoxicity and evaluation of the anti-inflammatory effect. in vitro inflammatory activity, in addition to extract fractionation with better results in terms of mass yield, chemical profile HPLC-UV/DAD-ESI-MS and bioactivity. Thus, a multidisciplinary study will be carried out, with integrative research to obtain new bioactive agents aimed at application in psoriasis.