Inflammatory Bowel Disease (IBD): a novel biological role of saffron petal extracts as a modulator of phlogistic pathway via FBW7/NF-kB in Caco-2 cell line LPS-stimulated

Inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) is a chronic pathology characterized by extensive inflammation, which causes a functional alteration of the intestinal barrier. Today most of the drugs applied for IBD have adverse consequences. In this scenario, the development of new therapeutic agents for the treatment of IBD is necessary. A new approach to develop eff ective therapeutic strategies is the study of natural com pounds with anti-infl ammatory properties. Saff ron petals contain fl avonolic glycosides (kaempferol), carotenoids (crocin and crocetin) and anthocyanin pigments, with anti oxidant and anti-infl ammatory activity. Recently, kaempferol and crocin identifi ed in Saff ron Petal Extract (SPE), has been able to reduce oxidative stress in intestinal epi thelial cells. Our aim was to evaluate the therapeutic potential of SPE on infl amed human intestinal Caco2 cells that mimic the intestinal microenvironment. We have demonstrated that SPE, down-regulating the expression of the ubiquitine FBW7, inhibits the degradation of the IKB-α subunit and keeps NF-κB in the inactive state. Th is leads downstream to a reduced activation of inducible molecules (iNOS, COX 2 and HO-1) involved on intestinal infl ammatory process. In conclusion, since FBW7 increases in colon tissue of IBD patients, SPE may represent an attractive and prom ising supplementary treatment for the therapeutic management of IBD with conven tional therapies