Aloesin alleviates imiquimod-induced psoriasis in dermal layers through inhibition of interleukins and NF-κB signaling pathways

Aloesin is an aromatic chromone found in Aloe vera. Aloesin exhibits medicinal properties, including anti-inflammatory, anticancer, antioxidative, and antibacterial properties. Nonetheless, the possible therapeutic effects of aloesin on psoriasis have not yet been explored. The present study evaluated the impact of aloesin on psoriasis using an imiquimod (IMQ)-induced psoriasis model in mice. A standard drug group receiving methotrexate (MTX) was included to benchmark the efficacy of aloesin. The effects of aloesin on body weight, PASI, oxidative/anti-oxidative indexes, and histological alterations in skin tissue were estimated. Additionally, the inflammatory modulators interleukin (IL)-1β, IL-6, IL-17, IL-22, IL-23, tumor necrosis factor, nuclear factor kappa B (NF-κB), and transforming growth factor (TGF-β) were evaluated. Furthermore, oxidative stress parameters, including malondialdehyde (MDA), reactive oxygen species (ROS), superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione (GSH), and catalase (CAT), were assessed. Our findings revealed that both aloesin and MTX effectively reduced psoriasis area severity index (PASI) scores without any significant changes in the body weight of mice and ameliorated psoriatic lesions. Moreover, aloesin demonstrated effects comparable to those of MTX in several parameters and significantly downregulated the levels of immunomodulatory molecules, while increasing the levels of TGF-β. It efficiently up-regulated the levels of antioxidants (SOD, GSH, and CAT) and suppressed MDA as well as ROS activity. Our study demonstrated that aloesin had a significant effect on IMQ-induced psoriasis in mice, and the underlying mechanism may be the improvement of antioxidant and anti-inflammatory status, as well as the inhibition of NF-κB expression. MTX, as a standard comparator, allowed for direct benchmarking of aloesin anti-psoriatic effects. Psoriasis treatment could benefit from this approach in the future.