Ovatodiolide suppresses allergic airway inflammation and hyperresponsiveness in a murine model of asthma.

Asthma, a complex pulmonary allergic disease, major therapy is applied of drugs to control the disease, but quickly recur after the drugs are stopped. In patients with severe asthma may show steroid resistance and would benefit from the development of novel therapeutic drugs. Ovatodiolide, a unique macrocyclic diterpenoid isolated from Anisomeles indica, showed therapeutic potential for the treatment of allergic asthma. As a model of allergic inflammation, we used ovalbumin (OVA)-immunized mice, which displayed T helper cell type 2 (TH2) cytokine expression in bronchoalveolar lavage fluid (BALF), as well as airway inflammation and hyperresponsiveness (AHR). The results showed that ovatodiolide suppressed TH2 activation, including cell proliferation and production of the TH2 related cytokines, interleukin (IL)-4, IL-5, IL-13, IL-33, eosinophil chemotactic protein (eotaxin), and also reduced airway hyperresponsiveness. In this study, ovatodiolide inhibited allergic asthma through downregulation of TH2 responses in a murine model of asthma.