Chinese Herbal Formula Huayu-Qiangshen-Tongbi Decoction Attenuates Rheumatoid Arthritis through Upregulating miR-125b to Suppress NF- κ B-Induced Inflammation by Targeting CK2.

The Huayu-Qiangshen-Tongbi (HQT) decoction, a Chinese medical formula, has been identified to show a potent therapeutic effect on rheumatoid arthritis (RA). However, the specific molecular mechanism of HQT in RA has not been well studied. In the present study, LPS-treated human rheumatoid fibroblast-like synoviocyte (FLS) MH7A cells and collagen-induced arthritis (CIA) mice were utilized as in vitro and in vivo models. Our results demonstrated that HQT could efficiently inhibit RA-induced inflammation by reducing the production of cytokines including tumor necrosis factor alpha (TNF- α ), interleukin-1 beta (IL-1 β ), and interleukin-6 (IL-6). Moreover, HQT significantly upregulated the expression of miR-125b. Besides, analysis of bioinformatics suggested casein kinase 2 (CK2) was a potential target of miR-125b. Luciferase reporter assay was performed and revealed that miR-125b suppressed CK2 expression in MH7A cells. Furthermore, miR-125b inhibited LPS-induced NF-kappa-B (NF- κ B) activation, which is a downstream target of CK2. In addition, the NF- κ B inhibitor ammonium pyrrolidinedithiocarbamate (PDTC) and NF-kappa-B inhibitor alpha (IkB- α ) enhanced the inhibitory effect of miR-125b on the expression of TNF- α , IL-1 β , and IL-6. Taken together, our study revealed that HQT could attenuate RA through upregulating miR-125b to suppress NF- κ B-induced inflammation by targeting CK2. The findings of this study should facilitate investigating the mechanism of HQT on RA and discovering novel therapeutic targets for RA.