Medicinal herbs have been recently investigated to explore their therapeutic potential on autoimmune disorders, as an alternative treatment to relieve disease symptoms. Here, we sought to determine the immunomodulatory function of a Chinese medicine formula Ginseng-Epimedii (GE), constituted by , , and , on mice with experimental Sjögren’s syndrome (ESS). We found that GE-treated ESS mice exhibited improved salivary gland function and decreased serum levels of autoantibodies. In line with the network pharmacology analysis, GE treatment suppressed IL-6 production by B cells and conventional dendritic cells, associated with decreased effector T cell subsets. Using co-culture assay and adoptive transfer model, we demonstrated that splenoctyes from ESS mice receiving GE treatment showed impaired capacity to drive pathogenic Th17 and T follicular helper cell differentiation. Thus, this study suggested the therapeutic potential of GE formula in treating SS, by skewing the microenvironment that unfavored effector T cell responses.

中文翻译：

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人参淫羊藿配方通过减少 IL-6 的产生改善实验性干燥综合征


最近对草药进行了研究，以探索其对自身免疫性疾病的治疗潜力，作为缓解疾病症状的替代疗法。在这里，我们试图确定由 、 、 和 组成的中药方剂人参淫羊藿 (GE) 对实验性干燥综合征 (ESS) 小鼠的免疫调节功能。我们发现，GE 治疗的 ESS 小鼠表现出改善的唾液腺功能和降低的自身抗体血清水平。与网络药理学分析一致，GE 治疗抑制了 B 细胞和传统树突状细胞产生 IL-6，这与效应 T 细胞亚群减少有关。使用共培养测定和过继转移模型，我们证明接受 GE 治疗的 ESS 小鼠的脾细胞显示出驱动致病性 Th17 和滤泡辅助 T 细胞分化的能力受损。因此，这项研究表明 GE 配方通过改变不利于效应 T 细胞反应的微环境来治疗 SS 的治疗潜力。