Curcumin analog JM-2 alleviates diabetic cardiomyopathy inflammation and remodeling by inhibiting the NF-κB pathway
Minxiu Wang, Leiming Jin, Qianhui Zhang, Weiwei Zhu, Hanghui He, Shuaijie Lou, Wu Luo, Xue Han, Guang Liang
Abstract
Cardiac inflammation is an important pathological process in diabetic cardiomyopathy (DCM). Curcumin is a natural compound found in the rhizome of Curcuma longa and has been shown to possess multifunctional bioactivities. In the present study, we identified a new curcumin-derived compound, JM-2, and investigated its therapeutic effects against DCM in mouse models of streptozotocin-induced type 1 diabetes mellitus (T1DM) and HFD-induced type 2 diabetes (T2DM). Treatment with JM-2 (10 mg/kg) prevented cardiac functional and structural deficits effectively and reduced cardiac inflammation and fibrosis. JM-2 administration attenuated DCM by inhibiting nuclear factor kappa-B (NF-κB) activation in the heart of both models. In addition, treatment with JM-2 completely prevented the increase in proinflammatory factors and macrophage infiltration in T1DM and T2DM mice. RNA-seq analysis showed that the anti-inflammatory activity of JM-2 was associated with the inhibition of NF-κB activation. In vitro, JM-2 suppressed high glucose (HG)-induced myocardial hypertrophy and fibrosis in H9c2 cells, accompanied by inhibition of HG-induced NF-κB activation. Collectively, our results showed that JM-2, a new curcumin analog, provides strong protection against DCM via inhibition of the NF-κB-mediated inflammation. In summary, our data suggest that the curcumin analog JM-2 may be a potential therapeutic agent for DCM.