Royal jelly significantly alters inflammasome pathways in patients with chronic hepatitis B

Abstract

Royal jelly (RJ) plays immunomodulatory role in humans. Further, role played by inflammasomes against hepatitis B virus (HBV) and involvement in its complications are well known. Here, we evaluated the effects of RJ on the relative expression of apoptosis associated with speck-like protein (ASC), node like receptor (NLR) family pyrin domain containing 1 (NLRP1), NLRP3, S100 calcium binding protein A4 (S100A4), and S100A9, as the immune system-related molecules in patients with chronic hepatitis B infection. RJ was administrated for 1 month (@1 g/day), to the patients with chronic hepatitis B infection. The relative expressions of ASC, NLRP1, NLRP3, S100A4 and S100A9 were evaluated using Real-Time PCR. The results showed that RJ increased the expression of ASC, but decreased the expression of NLRP1 in the patients with chronic hepatitis B infection. Relative expressions of NLRP3, S100A4, and S100A9 were not altered following treatment with RJ. There were no significant differences between men and women regarding the relative expression of the molecules. The results suggest that RJ can modulate immune responses via downregulation of NLRP1. The roles played by ASC in other pathways suggest that the upregulation of ASC could be associated with its immunomodulatory potential.