The Potential Anti-psoriatic Effects of Andrographolide: A Comparative Study to Topical Corticosteroids

Andrographolide (AP), a bioactive anti-inflammatory compound of Sambiloto, inhibits NF-κB, TNF-α, and interleukin IL-6. Nowadays, molecular docking simulation between AP and dexamethasone against NF-κB receptor presented the energy AP higher than dexamethasone. This becomes a potential treatment for psoriasis.

This manuscript reported the effectiveness of AP from Sambiloto in treating psoriasis compared to topical steroids.

This study conducted TLC analysis of AP content and its metabolite impurities, emulgel formulation, molecular docking, in-silico skin toxicity study, and in-vivo anti-psoriatic activity. This was a combination study of an in-silico study and an in-vivo study. This in-silico study was analyzed through multivariate statistical analysis (PCA) to elucidate the data constellation relationship of andrographolide derivatives with several target proteins. The intervention was performed in seven days. The PASI score, molecular parameters (IL-6, IL-17, VEGF, and TNF-a levels), and histopathological findings were assessed.

Molecular docking results revealed andrographolide to exhibit a relatively high binding affinity towards IL-6, NF-kB, and TNF-α which is comparable to the corticosteroids, andrographolide also shares similar residue interaction profile with each of the respective protein's native ligand. In the in-vivo study, we found several parameters statistically significantly different regarding the intervention, including final PASI score (p = 0.017), redness (p = 0.017), scale (p = 0.040), thickness (p = 0.023), total histopathology of psoriasis score (p = 0.037), keratin layer score (p = 0.018).

Emulgel AP 0.1% could lower the anti-inflammatory agent, which is vital to psoriasis progression.