Patent Application
20120003342
1. Technical Field
The disclosure relates to a pharmaceutical composition for treating or relieving inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), and in particular relates to an extract of Bupleurum as an active ingredient for treating or relieving inflammatory bowel disease (IBD).
2. Description of the Related Art
The current medicament for inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is commonly categorized into four groups, (1) immunosuppression drugs, such as azathioprine, cyclosporine or steroids, (2) therapeutic agents, such as sulfsalazine or 5-aminosalicylic acid (5-ASA), (3) biological agents for inhibiting specific inflammatory factors, such as infliximab or remicade, and (4) anti-diarrheal agents. However, these medicaments may not completely cure IBD and sometimes cause side effects.
A new generation of drugs for rheumatoid arthritis by inhibiting the tumor necrosis factor (TNF-α) has also been used for the treatment of IBD, such as etanercept, adalimumab, or the like. These drugs show good drug effects during a short period of time and immune tolerance, but due to its price, intravenous injection, a potential immunoresponse and limited test data, clinical use has been limited.
Bupleurum is a medicinal plant recorded in a Chinese herbal medicine book, Shennong bencao jiing. It is traditionally used for relieving fever, pain and inflammatory diseases and treating irritations, infections causing fever, thirst, jaundice and hepatitis, etc. The Bupleurum root is known for its medicinal effect and has been chemically isolated. Saikosaponin, longispinogenin, steroids, fatty oils, flavonoids and saccharides have been isolated from the extract of the Bupleurum root, in which saikosaponin is the primary component.
It is known that attempts have been made in biological medicine, to use Bupleurum in treating hepatitis. Nevertheless, no study or reference for using Bupleurum to treat IBD has been found. Accordingly, a specific extraction method of Bupleurum was used to develop a novel pharmaceutical composition and method for treating or relieving IBD, wherein the correlations between a Bupleurum extract and IBD were identified.
A detailed description is given in the following embodiments with reference to the accompanying drawings.
In one embodiment of the disclosure, a pharmaceutical composition for treating or relieving inflammatory bowel disease is provided, which comprises an extract of Bupleurum as an active ingredient.
In another embodiment of the disclosure, a method for treating or relieving inflammatory bowel disease is provided, which comprises administrating an extract of Bupleurum to a subject. The subject includes a human.
In a further embodiment of the disclosure, a method for preparing a medicament of treating or relieving inflammatory bowel disease is provided, which comprises a step of providing an extract of Bupleurum as an active ingredient in preparation of a medicament of treating or relieving inflammatory bowel disease.
The disclosure can be more fully understood by reading the subsequent detailed description and examples with references made to the accompanying drawings, wherein:
The following description is of the best-contemplated mode of carrying out the disclosure. This description is made for the purpose of illustrating the general principles of the invention and should not be taken in a limiting sense. The scope of the invention is best determined by reference to the appended claims.
The Bupleurum species in the disclosure are selected from the family which is slightly cold in nature and bitter to the taste according to page-78 in “The English-Chinese Encyclopedia of Practical Traditional Chinese medicine vol. 2: The Chinese Materia Medica” (Higher Education Press, Beijing, China, 1994 edition 1.)
More specific, the Bupleurum species in the application are selected from the group consisting of Bupleurum krylovianum, Bupleurum chinense, Bupleurum commelynoideum, Bupleurum scorzonerifolium, Bupleurum triradiatum, Bupleurum falcatum, Bupleurum kaoi and a combination thereof.
The Bupleurum can be extracted from the root of a plant or a whole plant as described in U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/829,357 (Jul. 1, 2010) which is incorporated by reference. The “extraction” according to the disclosure can be solvent extraction. The “solvent extraction” is directed to a method comprising: adding a substrate of interest into a suitable solvent and extracting a target compound based on the solubility of components of the substrate in the solvent. In one example, the Bupleurum is ground and immerged in a solvent under room temperature for a period of time. The solvent is isolated and dried under room temperature to obtain an extract of the Bupleurum. In another example, the ground Bupleurum is added into a polar solvent and extracted after heating under reflux.
The solvent used in the invention can be C1˜C12 alcohols, C2˜C5 acetates, C5˜C6 alkanes, or combinations thereof, such as methanol, ethanol, propanol, isopropanol, butanol, 2-butyl alcohol, tert-butyl alcohol, 1,3-butandiol, 1,4butandiol, pentanol, isopentanol, 2,3-pentandiol, 2,4-pentandiol, cyclopentanol, hexanol, cyclohexanol, heptanol, octanol, nonanol, decanol, undecanol, dodecanol, ethyl acetate, propyl acetate, pentyl acetate, pentane, cyclopentane, hexane, cyclohexane, or combinations thereof, but are not limited thereto. In one example, ethanol, ethyl acetate and/or pentane is/are used as a solvent for extraction. In another example, an ethanol aqueous solution is used as a solvent for extraction. The concentration of ethanol can be about 20%˜95%, or about 40%˜95% based on the ethanol aqueous solution.
The volume of the solvent can be more than 5 times that of the Bupleurum, or about 5˜10 times.
The extraction may last more than two hours. In one embodiment, the extraction lasts for about 2˜24 hours or about for 4˜5 hours.
The extraction is usually performed at room temperature. In one embodiment, the extraction is performed at a temperature from room temperature to the temperature of the ethanol aqueous solution is boiled and refluxed.
The extraction may further comprise a step of concentration by drying, wherein a solid or crystal form is extracted after being heated and refluxed. The extraction process can be repeated several times for a pure extract.
The animal model of enteritis for test is from an induction by trinitrobenzene sulfonic acid (TNBS) (Current Protocols in Immunology (2001) 15.19.1-15.19.14; Lahat G, Halperin D, Fabian I, et al. Immunomodulatory Effects of Ciprofloxacin in TNBS-Induced Colitis in Mice. Inflamm Bowel Dis 2007; 13:557-565; ten Hove T, van den Blink B, Pronk I, et al. Dichotomal role of inhibition of p38 MAPK with SB 203580 in experimental colitis. Gut 2002; 50:507-512; and Bouma G, Strober W. The Immunological and Genetic Basis of Inflammatory Bowel Disease. Nature Review Immunology 2003; 3: 521-533). The bowel in the animal model of enteritis has swelled and the feces therein show a mushy or watery appearance instead of a normal semi-solid type appearance. In one embodiment, the size of the swelled bowel is obviously reduced and the feces become soft blobs after an administration of the Bupleurum extract. The result reveals that the extract of Bupleurum has effects on inhibition and alleviation of IBD. In one embodiment, the level of TNF-α, IL-6, G-CSF and IL1-β in a bowel infusion of the IBD is significantly decreased, suggesting that these factors correlate to the IBD.
According to the disclosure, the extract of Bupleurum is useful to ameliorate or cure IBD in a subject, including Crohn's disease, or enteritis or a bowel disease with an inflammatory symptom.
The subject described herein comprises a mammal, such as mouse, dog, cat, horse, goat, pig, monkey, chimpanzee, and particularly, human.
The subject is administrated the extract of Bupleurum in an effective amount. The effective amount is not specifically limited, and can be adjusted by a person skilled in the art based on a subject's age, physical condition or inflammatory levels. The effective amount for administration is about 50˜1,000 mg/kg or about 30˜500 mg/kg based on the weight of the subject.
The pharmaceutical composition according to the invention may further comprise a pharmaceutically acceptable carrier and/or additive added in an appropriate ratio based on the dosage form, storage type or administration route.
The administration route in the invention comprises intravenous, intramuscular, subcutaneous or oral routes. Oral administration is preferable. The pharmaceutical composition of the invention can be administrated in a multiple dose regime within a period of time. The administrative regime can be estimated and identified according to routine pharmaceutical practices.
The extraction of the Bupleurum species is based on U.S. patent application Ser. No. 12/829,357 (Jul. 1, 2010) with modification. Specifically, the roots of Bupleurum krylovianum, Bupleurum chinense, Bupleurum commelynoideum, Bupleurum scorzonerifolium, Bupleurum triradiatum, Bupleurum falcatum and Bupleurum kaoi were separately grinded into powdered form.
0.5 g of each the powdered form were added to 25 ml of an ethanol aqueous solution in a concentration of 25%, 50%, 75% and 95% by volume, respectively. Each of the solution was vibrated at room temperature overnight. After being dried and concentrated, extracts of Bupleurum were obtained, respectively.
The examples discussing inhibition of TNF-α, IL-6, G-CSF and IL1-β in a bowel infusion by the extract of Bupleurum, are based on the references in the following with some modifications. The references listed herein are incorporated into the application.
Specifically, BABL/cAnNCrlBltw mice, purchased from BioLASCO Taiwan (Bltw) were grouped into four groups having 6 mice to a group. In three of the groups, each mouse was injected with 1.75 mg of trinitrobenzene sulfonic acid (TNBS) (Sigma) at a 4 cm depth of the bowel from the anus. After 48 hours, the injected location was induced to form enteritis. Mice in another group were injected with a 50% ethanol aqueous solution without TNBS at a 4 cm depth of the bowel from the anus as a negative control (A). The location injected ethanol aqueous solution without TNBS was not induced to form enteritis. The test article or vehicle control was administrated at 4 hours and 24 hours after the TNBS induction, and the animal were sacrificed after 48 hours of TNBS induction.
In one of the enteritis-induced groups, a 6 cm length cut was made from the anus of the mice of the enteritis-induced bowel as a vehicle treatment (B). The cut bowel was immerged in phosphate buffer saline (PBS) for 2 hours.
In one of the enteritis-induced group, the mice were fed 100 mg/kg of Bupleurum krylovianum extract, extracted by the extraction of the 50% ethanol aqueous solution in Example 1. Then, a 6 cm length cut was made from the anus of the mice of the enteritis-induced bowel as a test group (C). The cut bowel was immerged in phosphate buffer saline (PBS) for 2 hours.
In another one of the enteritis-induced group, the mice were fed 200 mg/kg of 5-aminosalicyclic acid (5-ASA). Then, a 6 cm length cut was made from the anus of the mice of the enteritis-induced bowel as a positive control (D). The cut bowel was immerged in phosphate buffer saline (PBS) for 2 hours.
The bowel infusion of the groups (A), (B), (C) and (D) were respectively quantified and analyzed, for the amounts of TNF-α, IL-6, G-CSF and IL1-β by an ELISA (R&D Systems®). The results are shown in
BABL/c Mice were induced to form enteritis as in the steps of Example 2. The enteritis-induced mice were separated into groups and each were fed with 100 mg/kg of Bupleurum krylovianum (100 mg/kg DLS01=080221-001, extracted with 50% EtOH aqueous solution), 1000 mg/kg of Bupleurum krylovianum (extracted with 50% EtOH aqueous solution), 100 mg/kg of Bupleurum chinense (DLS01-12 100 mg/kg, extracted with 50% EtOH aqueous solution), 100 mg/kg of Bupleurum commelynoideum (DLS01-41 100 mg/kg, extracted with 50% EtOH aqueous solution), 100 mg/kg of Bupleurum scorzonerifolium (DLS01-53 100 mg/kg, extracted with 50% EtOH aqueous solution), 100 mg/kg of Bupleurum triradiatum (DLS01-69 100 mg/kg, extracted with 50% EtOH aqueous solution), 100 mg/kg of Bupleurum falcatum (BEL-0506 100 mg/lg, extracted with 50% EtOH aqueous solution), and 100 mg/kg of Bupleurum kaoi (BEL-1153 100 mg/lg, extracted with 50% EtOH aqueous solution). Then, a 6 cm length cut was made from the anus of the mice of the enteritis-induced bowel to observe the swelling and the type of feces thereof (
The bowels from the negative control (A), vehicle treatment (B) and positive control (D) (200 mg/kg 5-ASAl) in Example 2 were also observed and the swelling and the type of feces were recorded, as shown in
The enteritis model in the vehicle treatment without the administration of the Bupleurum extract showed bowel swelling and mushy and watery feces (
While the disclosure has been described by way of example and in terms of the embodiments, it is to be understood that the disclosure is not limited to the disclosed embodiments. To the contrary, it is intended to cover various modifications and similar arrangements (as would be apparent to those skilled in the art). Therefore, the scope of the appended claims should be accorded the broadest interpretation so as to encompass all such modifications and similar arrangements.
| Number | Date | Country | Kind |
|---|---|---|---|
| 099143928 | Dec 2010 | TW | national |
This application claims the benefit of U.S. Provisional Application No. 61/360,190, filed Jun. 30, 2010, and claims the priority of Taiwan Patent Application No. 099143928, filed Dec. 15, 2010, the entire contents of which are hereby incorporated by reference.
| Number | Date | Country | |
|---|---|---|---|
| 61360190 | Jun 2010 | US |
