Icaritin

Icaritin (ICT), a compound with diverse biological activities derived from Epimedium folium, is typically present in low concentrations in EFs. However, the abundant glycosyl-modified ICT compounds facilitate its transformation into ICT. Current biocatalytic production faces challenges, including low conversion rates and limited enzyme activity. This study developed a one-pot enzymatic cascade strategy for directly biotransform crude extracts of Epimedium folium (EEF) to produce ICT. The feasibility of catalyzing different ICT-related compounds in EEF was validated through molecular docking and substrate reactions. The selected glycosidase exhibited simultaneous activities as a glucosidase, xylosidase, and α-1,6-rhamnosidase, with the rhamnosidase showing outer-rhamnosidic activity and weak glucosidase activity. By using EFs as the substrate and employing whole-cells (Escherichia coli) containing LacS and BtRha proteins for synergistic catalysis, icariin can be efficiently synthesized within 6 h, achieving a conversion rate of 100 %. The enzymatic cascade for ICT production from crude extracts was elucidated by analyzing catalytic intermediates via HPLC. Compared to strategies using single or traditional multi-enzyme applications, this method shows advantages of ease to operation, high efficiency, and large production yield performance. This method has the potential to become an eco-friendly catalytic strategy for the large-scale production of icaritin.

Ulcerative colitis (UC) is a chronic, relapsing nonspecific intestinal inflammatory disease. It is difficult for a single drug to treat UC effectively and maintain long-term efficacy. There is an urgent need to find new drugs and treatment strategies. MAGL11 is a new kind of single acylglycerol lipase (MAGL) inhibitor. Icaritin (Y003) is the major metabolite of icariin in vivo. Several studies have confirmed the role of MAGL inhibitors and icariin in anti-inflammatory and regulation of intestinal stability. Therefore, this study adopted a new strategy of combining MAGL inhibitor with Icaritin to further explore the role and mechanism of drugs in the treatment of UC. Enzyme-linked immunosorbent assay (ELISA), hematoxylin-eosin staining (HE), immunohistochemical (IHC) and Western blot were used to detect the synergistic protective effects of MAGL11 and Y003 on intestinal pathological injury, intestinal mucosal permeability and inflammation in UC mice. 16S rDNA sequencing was used to detect the synergistic effect of MAGL11 and Y003 on gut microbiota. The effects of MAGL11 and Y003 combined therapy on serum and fecal metabolism of UC mice were analyzed by untargeted metabolomics. Proteomics method was applied to investigate the molecular mechanisms underlying MAGL11 and Y003 synergy in the treatment of UC. The results showed that MAGL11 and Y003 could synergistically improve the clinical symptoms, reduce intestinal inflammation and pathological damage, and improve intestinal mucosal permeability in UC mice. The mechanism study found that MAGL11 and Y003 could synergistically inhibit Toll-like receptors 4 (TLR4) / Myeloid differentiation primary response gene (Myd88)/Nuclear factor kappa-B (NF-κB) pathway and further regulate gut microbiota imbalance and metabolic disorders to treat UC.