Cassia alata butanol fraction anti-inflammatory effect on early expression of NFκB and cytokines in DENV-1 infected PBMCs

Cytokine storms impact endothelial cells in vascular tissue, leading to plasma leakage during dengue infection. Several cytokines play important roles in dengue virus (DENV) infection such as TNF-α, IL-6, and IL-10. TNF-α and IL-6 were produced from the NFκB pathway. Prior investigation suggests the potential antiviral activity of butanol fraction derived from Cassia alata, but its potential as anti-inflammation remains unexplored. In this study, peripheral blood mononuclear cells from a healthy donor were infected with DENV-1 and treated with C. alata at 2 × IC_50. mRNAs expression was measured by real-time PCR at two time points: 2 and 24 hours post-treatment. The results showed that the expression of NFκB remained relatively constant between 2 and 24 hours post-treatment, while TNF-α and IL-6 in the DENV-1-infected-group were elevated at 24 hours post-treatment. In contrast, IL-10 decreased at 24 hours post-treatment. At 2 hours after treatment, expression of NFκB, TNF-α, IL-6, and IL-10 decreased compared to the untreated group, by 0.084, 0.528, 3.519, and 0.445 fold, respectively. At 24 hours, NFκB expression was slightly down-regulated, while TNF-α, IL-6, and IL-10 were slightly up-regulated. The mRNA expression changes were not statistically significant, but the results showed that the effect of C. alata leaves butanol fraction was stronger at 2 hours post-treatment in the downregulation of TNF-α, IL-6, and IL-10 expression. Further study is needed to evaluate the potential and mechanism of C. alata as an anti-inflammation.