Journal
ANTIMICROBIAL AGENTS AND CHEMOTHERAPY
Volume 55, Issue 9, Pages 4000-4005Publisher
AMER SOC MICROBIOLOGY
DOI: 10.1128/AAC.00434-11
Keywords
-
Categories
Funding
- Ministry of Health, Labor and Welfare of Japan
Ask authors/readers for more resources
Clofazimine is a riminophenazine compound which has been used for the treatment of leprosy since the 1960s. Although the drug is effective in the management of leprosy reactions because of its anti-inflammatory activity, the mechanism leading to the cessation of inflammation is not well understood. In the present study, it was shown that clofazimine exhibits apoptosis-inducing activity in macrophages. When human monocyte-derived macrophages were cultured in vitro in the presence of clofazimine, the cells exhibited a marked decrease in metabolic activity and showed shrinkage in cell size, indicating cell death. Nuclear condensation and fragmentation were also observed by Giemsa and Hoechst 33248 stains. The endonuclease inhibitor ZnCl(2) inhibited the clofazimine-inducedcell death. Significant enhancement of caspase-3 activity was observed in clofazimine-treated macrophages and THP-1 cells. Collectively, these results suggest the apoptosis-inducing activity of clofazimine in macrophages, which may also be responsible for the antibacterial properties of clofazimine.
Authors
I am an author on this paper
Click your name to claim this paper and add it to your profile.
Reviews
Recommended
No Data Available