Inhibition of expression of pro-inflammatory genes in cystic fibrosis cells by products from Citrus Bergamia Risso.

The inflammatory process of cystic fibrosis (CF) is characterized by production and release of cytokines and chemokines, among which interleukin 8 (IL-8) represent one of the most important. Accordingly, there is a growing interest in developing therapies against CF in order to reduce the excessive inflammatory response in the airways of CF patients. In this respect, extracts from medicinal plants have been reported to exhibit anti-inflammatory activities in several reports. In this study we report that extracts obtained from bergamot (Citrus bergamia Risso) epicarps contain two components (citropten and bergapten) displaying an strong inhibitory activity on IL-8 expression. These effects have been confirmed both at the mRNA levels and the protein release in the CF cellular model IB3-1 induced with TNF-alpha, using RT-PCR and Bio-plex technology respectively. These results indicate that bergapten and citropten could be proposed as potential anti-inflammatory molecules to reduce lung inflammation in CF patients