Anti-IL-23 exerted protective effects on cerebral ischemia-reperfusion injury through JAK2/STAT3 signaling pathway

Background Ischemia-reperfusion is frequently occurred in ischemic cerebral vascular disease, during which process the inflammatory signaling played essential roles. The aim of study was to discover the efficacy of the antibody to a key immune cytokine IL-23 (anti-IL-23) for the therapy of cerebral ischemia-reperfusion injury. Methods We established the cerebral ischemia-reperfusion injury model by middle cerebral artery occlusion (MCAO). Anti-IL-23 injection attenuated the lesions indicated by histology study. RT-PCR and Western blot were employed to detect the mRNA and protein expression of JAK2 and STAT3 after anti-IL-23 treatment. ELISA was utilized to measure the levels of MDA (malondialdehyde) and superoxide dismutase (SOD). Moreover, curcumin and IL-6 were implicated in the endogenous intervention of IL-23/IL-23R signaling in vivo. Results Our data demonstrated that the treatment of anti-IL-23 might transcriptionally activate the classic immune pathway in the brain. Anti-IL-23 augment the phosphorylation levels of both JAK2 and STAT3, suggesting the amplification signaling of JAK/STAT after exogenous IL-23 intervention. Anti-IL-23 reduced the ROS molecules of STAT downstream in the serum and brain. It also alleviated the injury by lowering the levels of MDA and SOD in the serum. JAK2 inhibitor could abolish the effect of anti-IL-23 whereas JAK3 ameliorated the injury. The combination of anti-IL-23 and JAK3 displayed synergetic results. Conclusions In summary, this study indicated that anti-IL-23 had protection effects against cerebral ischemia-reperfusion injury by targeting the immune specific JAK2-STAT3 in JAK/STAT pathway.