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When dihydrotanshinone I kills Helicobacter pylori, it can not only destroy the biofilm, but also kill the bacteria attached to the biofilm, which plays a role in “uprooting” Helicobacter pylori.

Bi Hongkai, Professor, School of Basic Medicine, Nanjing Medical University

The latest global cancer data show that among the 4.57 million new cancer cases in China each year, 480,000 new cases of gastric cancer, accounting for 10.8%, are among the top three. In China with a high incidence of gastric cancer, the infection rate of Helicobacter pylori is as high as 50%, and the problem of antibiotic resistance is becoming more and more serious, resulting in a continuous decline in the eradication rate.
Recently, the team of Professor Bi Hongkai, School of Basic Medicine, Nanjing Medical University, successfully screened a new drug candidate for drug-resistant Helicobacter pylori-Dihydrotanshinone I. Dihydrotanshinone I has the advantages of high efficiency and rapid killing of Helicobacter pylori, anti- Helicobacter pylori biofilm, safety and resistance to resistance, etc., and is expected to enter preclinical research as an anti- Helicobacter pylori drug candidate. The results were published online in the authoritative international antimicrobial journal “Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy”.

The first treatment failure rate of traditional therapies is about 10%

Under the microscope, the length is only 2.5 micrometers to 4 micrometers, and the width is only 0.5 micrometers to 1 micrometers. Helicobacter pylori, a spirally curved bacteria that “spreads teeth and dances claws”, can not only cause acute and chronic gastritis, gastric and duodenal ulcers and lymphatics. Diseases such as proliferative gastric lymphoma are also related to gastric cancer, liver cancer, and diabetes.

The triple and quadruple therapy containing two antibiotics are commonly used in my country to treat Helicobacter pylori, but traditional treatment methods cannot eliminate Helicobacter pylori.

“The failure rate of the first treatment of traditional therapy is about 10%. Some patients will have diarrhea or gastrointestinal flora disorders. Others are allergic to penicillin, and there are fewer antibiotics to choose from. At the same time, long-term use of antibiotics will cause bacteria The development of drug resistance makes the antibiotic efficacy worse, and the effect of eradication cannot be achieved at all.” Bi Hongkai said: “Bacteria are resistant to certain antibiotics, and they will also be resistant to other antibiotics, and the resistance can also vary in different ways. Bacteria spread to each other through drug-resistant genes, which complicates the drug resistance of bacteria.”

When Helicobacter pylori resists enemy invasion, it will cunningly form a biofilm “protective cover” for itself, and the biofilm will have a resistance to antibiotics, resulting in increased resistance to Helicobacter pylori, affecting the therapeutic effect and reducing the cure Rate.

Salvia miltiorrhiza extract cell experiment can inhibit multi-drug resistant strains

In 1994, the World Health Organization classified Helicobacter pylori as a Class I carcinogen because it plays a leading role in the occurrence and development of gastric cancer. How to eradicate this health killer? In 2017, Bi Hongkai’s team made a breakthrough through preliminary experiments-Danshen.

Danshen is one of the most widely used traditional Chinese medicines for promoting blood circulation and removing blood stasis. Its fat-soluble extracts are tanshinone compounds, including more than 30 monomers such as tanshinone I, dihydrotanshinone, tanshinone IIA, and cryptotanshinone. Tanshinone compounds have a variety of pharmacological effects, such as anti-cancer, anti-positive bacteria, anti-inflammatory, estrogen-like activity and cardiovascular protection, etc., but the anti-Helicobacter pylori effect has not been reported.

“Previously, we screened more than 1,000 Chinese medicine monomers at the cell level, and finally determined that the dihydrotanshinone I monomer in Danshen had the best effect in killing Helicobacter pylori. When doing cell experiments, we found that when the concentration of dihydrotanshinone I was used When it is 0.125 μg/ml-0.5 μg/ml, it can inhibit the growth of multiple Helicobacter pylori strains, including antibiotic-sensitive and multi-drug resistant strains.” Bi Hongkai said that dihydrotanshinone I is also very effective against Helicobacter pylori in biofilms. Good killing effect, and Helicobacter pylori did not develop resistance to dihydrotanshinone I during continuous passage.

The bigger surprise is that “When dihydrotanshinone I kills Helicobacter pylori, it can not only destroy the biofilm, but also kill the bacteria attached to the biofilm, which plays a role in the’rooting’ of Helicobacter pylori. “Bi Hongkai introduced.

Can Dihydrotanshinone I cure Helicobacter pylori?

In order to make the experimental results more accurate, Bi Hongkai’s team also conducted screening experiments in mice to further determine the killing effect of dihydrotanshinone I on Helicobacter pylori.

Bi Hongkai introduced that in the experiment, two weeks after the mice were infected with Helicobacter pylori, the researchers randomly divided them into 3 groups, namely the combined administration group of omeprazole and dihydrotanshinone I, the standard triple regimen administration group, and phosphoric acid In the buffer control group, the mice were given medicine once a day for 3 consecutive days.

“Experimental results show that the combined administration group of omeprazole and dihydrotanshinone I has a higher efficiency in killing Helicobacter pylori than the standard triple regimen group.” Bi Hongkai said, which means that in mice, dihydrotanshinone I has a higher killing efficiency than traditional drugs.

When will Dihydrotanshinone I enter the homes of ordinary people? Bi Hongkai emphasized that Danshen cannot be directly used to prevent and treat Helicobacter pylori infection, and its monomer dihydrotanshinone I is still far from being made into a drug that can be used clinically. He said that the next step will continue to study the mechanism of action of dihydrotanshinone I, and improve the pharmacology and toxicology of dihydrotanshinone I against Helicobacter pylori. “The road ahead is still long. I hope that companies can participate in pre-clinical research and continue this research to benefit more patients with stomach diseases.”