Written by Tatjana Djakovic, Staff Writer. Chinese participants with Takayasu Arteritis had significantly improved BVAS scores and reduced markers of inflammation after 3 months of supplementation with resveratrol.

cardioTakayasu Arteritis (TA), a chronic granulomatous inflammation of the aorta and its main branches 1 that affects people between the ages of 10 – 40 years, is most prevalent among Asian women 2. The prognosis is poor with half the affected population requiring vascular surgery or percutaneous angioplasty 3. More effective therapies are needed.

Tumor necrosis factor (TNFα) is a pro-inflammatory immune system cytokine. Studies have suggested that in various disease models, resveratrol, a naturally occurring polyphenol prevalent in grapes and cranberries, inhibited the ability of this immune system cytokine to induce cell damage. 4-6. Researchers, to further explore resveratrol’s anti-inflammatory activity, conducted a randomized, double-blind placebo controlled trial 7 to ascertain the effectiveness of resveratrol as a potential treatment for TA. Of the 202 eligible Chinese study participants with TA, 112 received 250 mg of resveratrol while 18 participants received placebo daily for a duration of 3 months. Biweekly follow ups allowed for evaluation of the primary outcome (BVAS scores) and secondary treatment outcomes [erythrocyte sedimentation rate (ESR), C-reactive protein (CRP), and TNF-α]

The Birmingham Vascular Activity score (BVAS) is an assessment method for vasculitis that measures current disease activity based on symptoms and signs of the disease. Values range between 0 to 63, with 0 indicating “completely well” and high scores indicative of the more active state the disease 8. The ESR and C-reactive protein are both non-specific measures of inflammation and increase with increasing inflammation in the body 9,10.

After 6 weeks of treatment BVAS scores in the resveratrol group were significantly improved compared to placebo and at 12 weeks ESR, CRP, and TNF-α were significantly reduced in the resveratrol group compared to placebo.

Plasma levels of TNF-alpha were strongly correlated with BVAS scores (p=0.03), as well as ESR (0.02), and plasma levels of CRP (0.02), demonstrating that the reduction in BVAS scores and ESR and CRP values were most likely attributable to the reduced BVAS, ESR and CPR levels.

The researchers believe resveratrol offers a promising role in the clinical management of TA through its ability to inhibit the pro-inflammatory activity of the cytokine TNF-α. However, they recommend that future studies should be longer than 3 months duration and should include participating subjects of diverse ethnicity.

Source: Shi, Guoxun, Minhui Hua, Qiangwei Xu, and Tianli Ren. “Resveratrol improves treatment outcome and laboratory parameters in patients with Takayasu arteritis: A randomized double-blind and placebo-controlled trial.” Immunobiology 222, no. 2 (2017): 164-168.

© 2016 Elsevier GmbH. All rights reserved.

Posted July 11, 2017.

References:

  1. Ishihara T, Haraguchi G, Tezuka D, Kamiishi T, Inagaki H, Isobe M. Diagnosis and assessment of Takayasu arteritis by multiple biomarkers. Circulation Journal. 2013;77(2):477-483.
  2. Nasu T. Takayasu’s truncoarteritis in Japan. Pathobiology. 1975;43(2-3):140-146.
  3. Hoffman GS, Merkel PA, Brasington RD, Lenschow DJ, Liang P. Anti–tumor necrosis factor therapy in patients with difficult to treat Takayasu arteritis. Arthritis & Rheumatology. 2004;50(7):2296-2304.
  4. Wang X-H, Zhu L, Hong X, et al. Resveratrol attenuated TNF-α–induced MMP-3 expression in human nucleus pulposus cells by activating autophagy via AMPK/SIRT1 signaling pathway. Experimental biology and medicine. 2016;241(8):848-853.
  5. Pan W, Yu H, Huang S, Zhu P. Resveratrol protects against TNF-α-induced injury in human umbilical endothelial cells through promoting sirtuin-1-induced repression of NF-KB and p38 MAPK. PloS one. 2016;11(1):e0147034.
  6. Liu XJ, Bao HR, Zeng XL, Wei JM. Effects of resveratrol and genistein on nuclear factor‑κB, tumor necrosis factor‑α and matrix metalloproteinase‑9 in patients with chronic obstructive pulmonary disease. Molecular medicine reports. 2016;13(5):4266-4272.
  7. Shi G, Hua M, Xu Q, Ren T. Resveratrol improves treatment outcome and laboratory parameters in patients with Takayasu arteritis: A randomized double-blind and placebo-controlled trial. Immunobiology. 2017;222(2):164-168.
  8. Luqmani R, Bacon P, Moots R, et al. Birmingham vasculitis activity score (BVAS) Dim system necrotizinig vasculitis. QJM: An International Journal of Medicine. 1994;87(11):671-678.
  9. Danesh J, Collins R, Peto R, Lowe G. Haematocrit, viscosity, erythrocyte sedimentation rate: meta-analyses of prospective studies of coronary heart disease. European Heart Journal. 2000;21(7):515-520.
  10. Bautista L, Vera L, Arenas I, Gamarra G. Independent association between inflammatory markers (C-reactive protein, interleukin-6, and TNF-α) and essential hypertension. Journal of human hypertension. 2005;19(2):149-154.