Influence of apple polyphenols on inflammatory gene expression

Apples ( Malus spp., Rosaceae) and products thereof contain high amounts of polyphenols which show diverse biological activities and may contribute to beneficial health effects, like protecting the intestine against inflammation initiated by chronic inflammatory bowel diseases (IBD). IBD are characterized by an excessive release of several proinflammatory cytokines and chemokines by different cell types which results consequently in an increased inflammatory response. In the present study we investigated the preventive effectiveness of polyphenolic juice extracts and single major constituents on inflammatory gene expression in immunorelevant human cell lines (DLD‐1, T84, MonoMac6, Jurkat) induced with specific stimuli. Besides the influence on proinflammatory gene expression, the effect on NF‐κB‐, IP‐10‐, IL‐8‐promoter‐, STAT1‐dependent signal transduction, and the relative protein levels of multiple released cytokines and chemokines were studied. DNA microarray analysis of several genes known to be strongly regulated during gastrointestinal inflammation, combined with quantitative real‐time PCR (qRT‐PCR) revealed that the apple juice extract AE04 (100–200 μg/mL) significantly inhibited the expression of NF‐κB regulated proinflammatory genes (TNF‐α, IL‐1β, CXCL9, CXCL10), inflammatory relevant enzymes (COX‐2, CYP3A4), and transcription factors (STAT1, IRF1) in LPS/IFN‐γ stimulated MonoMac6 cells without significant effects on the expression of house‐keeping genes. A screening of some major compounds of AE04 revealed that the flavan‐3‐ol dimer procyanidin B 2 is mainly responsible for the anti‐inflammatory activity of AE04. Furthermore, the dihydrochalcone aglycone phloretin and the dimeric flavan‐3‐ol procyanidin B 1 significantly inhibited proinflammatory gene expression and repressed NF‐κB‐, IP‐10‐, IL‐8‐promoter‐, and STAT1‐dependent signal transduction in a dose‐dependent manner. The influence on proinflammatory gene expression by the applied polyphenols thereby strongly correlated with the increased protein levels investigated by human cytokine array studies. In summary, we evaluated selected compounds responsible for the anti‐inflammatory activity of AE04. In particular, procyanidin B 1 , procyanidin B 2 , and phloretin revealed anti‐inflammatory activities in vitro and therefore may serve as transcription‐based inhibitors of proinflammatory gene expression.