Moringa isothiocyanate-1 regulates Nrf2 and NF-κB Pathway in response to LPS-driven sepsis and inflammation

Moringa Isothiocyanate-1 (MIC-1) purified from moringa (Moringa oleifera Lam) seed extract (MSE) has been previously proved to modulate anti-inflammatory and antioxidant activities. However, the molecular mechanism remains poorly understood, particularly nothing is known about its effect on Lipopolysaccharide (LPS) induced sepsis/inflammation. Hence, we investigated whether MIC-1 can decrease acute inflammation in the LPS-induced acute inflammation/sepsis model in mice. Mice were treated orally with MIC-1 for three days before the intraperitoneal injection of LPS. MIC-1 treatment resulted in a dramatic improvement in the histopathological signs of inflammation in the liver, kidney, spleen, and colon and a significant reduction of the LPS-induced sepsis. Moreover, MIC-1 treatment significantly reduced the expression of inflammatory markers in all these organs. We also performed transcriptome analysis in vitro and in vivo in LPS induced macrophages and liver with/without MIC-1 treatment.  Interestingly, there is an upregulation of inflammatory/immune response genes in LPS induced macrophages/liver, and there is downregulation of same set of genes after treating with MIC-1. Our results together indicate that MIC-1 reduces sepsis/inflammation through NF-κB and Nrf2 mediated anti-inflammatory/antioxidant signaling pathways. Research has demonstrated that chronic low-grade tissue inflammation and oxidative stress are essential factors in the development of metabolic disorders. Therefore, MIC-1 could be a new natural therapeutic strategy to treat metabolic syndrome. Mouse data comprising RNA-Seq from 18 samples was obtained: 9 samples from the liver (3 saline control replicates, 3 LPS treated replicates, 3 LPS+10uM MIC-1 treated replicates) and 9 samples from macrophages (3 saline control replicates, 3 LPS treated replicates, 3 LPS+10uM MIC-1 treated replicates).