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ORIGINAL RESEARCH article

Front. Pharmacol.
Sec. Respiratory Pharmacology
Volume 15 - 2024 | doi: 10.3389/fphar.2024.1503283
This article is part of the Research Topic Acute and Chronic Lung Injury: Therapeutic Targets and Drugs View all articles

Mitigating Inflammation and Fibrosis: The Therapeutic Potential of Quercetin Liposomes in COPD

Provisionally accepted

    The final, formatted version of the article will be published soon.

      Chronic obstructive pulmonary disease (COPD) is a disease with severe therapeutic obstacles and high worldwide death rate. COPD progresses predominantly through an inflammatory response followed by fibrotic destruction. Quercetin (Que), recognized for its anti-inflammatory effects, presents significant promise as a therapeutic agent for COPD therapy. However, poor water solubility and low bioavailability of Que hinder its further clinical application. To address these issues, we developed Que liposomes (Que-lipo) to improve the solubility and bioavailability of Que. Que-lipo showed a gradual and sustained Que release profile in vitro, coupled with high biocompatibility and cellular uptake. Upon intratracheal administration, it showed significantly alleviate lung inflammation and fibrosis symptoms in a COPD mouse model. By modulating the inflammatory factor expression, antioxidant enzyme activity, and apoptosis-related proteins, Que-lipo significantly reduced oxidative stress and cell apoptosis. Que-lipo also exhibited anti-inflammatory and antifibrotic features by suppressing the NLRP3/IL-1β inflammasome pathway and TGF-β1 fibrosisrelated signaling pathway. Overall, this study offers novel insights and strategies for the treatment of COPD, as well as provides innovative approaches for the application of Que.

      Keywords: chronic obstructive pulmonary disease, Inflammation, Fibrosis, Quercetin, Liposomes

      Received: 28 Sep 2024; Accepted: 30 Nov 2024.

      Copyright: © 2024 . This is an open-access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution License (CC BY). The use, distribution or reproduction in other forums is permitted, provided the original author(s) or licensor are credited and that the original publication in this journal is cited, in accordance with accepted academic practice. No use, distribution or reproduction is permitted which does not comply with these terms.

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