Basic nutritional investigation Nutritional compounds influence tissue factor expression and inflammation of chronic kidney disease patients in vitro Cecilia M. Shing Ph.D. a, * , Murray J. Adams Ph.D. a , Robert G. Fassett M.D., Ph.D. b, c , Jeff S. Coombes Ph.D. c a School of Human Life Sciences, University of Tasmania, Launceston, Australia b Renal Medicine, Royal Brisbane and Women’s Hospital Brisbane, Australia; School of Medicine, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia c School of Human Movement Studies, University of Queensland, Brisbane, Australia article info Article history: Received 17 May 2010 Accepted 6 October 2010 Keywords: Fish oil Colostrum, Curcumin Kidney disease Cytokines Procoagulant activity abstract Objective: Nutritional compounds that potentially limit inflammation and tissue factor expression may decrease the progression of chronic kidney disease (CKD) and associated cardiovascular disease. This project aimed to determine the effect of curcumin, bovine colostrum, and fish oil on inflammatory cytokine and tissue factor procoagulant activity of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) from patients with CKD before dialysis. Methods: Peripheral blood mononuclear cells from patients with CKD before dialysis (n ¼ 13) and age- and sex-matched healthy controls (n ¼ 12) were cultured alone and with low and high doses of the nutritional compounds for 24 h. Cells were cultured with and without lipopolysaccharide. Supernatants were analyzed for tumor necrosis factor-a, interleukin (IL)-6, IL-8, monocyte che- moattractant protein-1, IL-1b, C-reactive protein, and tissue factor procoagulant activity. Results: The production of C-reactive protein, monocyte chemoattractant protein-1, IL-6, and IL-1b by PBMCs was inhibited by low- and high-dose fish oil in the CKD group (P < 0.05). Curcumin decreased secretion of IL-6 (P ¼ 0.015) and IL-1 b (P ¼ 0.016). Curcumin was more effective than colostrum at decreasing the procoagulant activity of PBMCs in the CKD and control groups (P < 0.019). Conclusion: Fish oil decreased inflammatory cytokine secretion from CKD PBMCs. In addition, the beneficial effects of curcumin were demonstrated in decreasing inflammation in vitro, often to a similar magnitude as fish oil. Ó 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. Introduction Increased levels of inflammation and increased expression of tissue factor (TF) are associated with increasing severity of chronic kidney disease (CKD) [1,2]. There is growing evidence that the elevated levels inflammation and TF that characterise CKD contribute to the accelerated progression of cardiovascular disease in patients with CKD [3–6]. Nutritional compounds with the potential to limit inflammation and TF expression may make a significant contribution to the health of patients with CKD and limit the progression of associated cardiovascular disease. There has been a growing number of studies investigating the benefits of fish oil or its constituents for decreasing inflammation in clinical populations. Fish oil supplementation for a period of 26 wk decreased the expression of proinflammatory and atherogenic genes of peripheral blood mononuclear cells (PBMCs) [7], and eicosapentaenoic acid has been demonstrated to decrease the production of inflammatory cytokines in hyper- cholesterolemic subjects [8]. Bovine colostrum has also been shown to modulate cytokine production in healthy adults in vivo [9] and in vitro [10]. This modulation may be attributable to an inhibition of the nuclear factor-kB (NF-kB) pathway, which is involved in the upregulation of inflammatory cytokines in PBMCs [11] and is upregulated in atherosclerotic tissue. Bovine colos- trum has recently been shown to inhibit NF-kB signaling in intestinal epithelial cells [12] and inhibition of the NF-kB pathway has been associated with a decrease in TF, the major in vivo trigger of blood coagulation [13]. Curcumin (derived from This work was supported by the Clifford Craig Medical Research Trust, Laun- ceston, Tasmania. * Corresponding author. Tel.: þ61-3-6324-5484; fax: þ61-3-6324-3658. E-mail address: Cecilia.Shing@utas.edu.au (C. M. Shing). 0899-9007/$ - see front matter Ó 2011 Elsevier Inc. All rights reserved. doi:10.1016/j.nut.2010.10.014 Contents lists available at ScienceDirect Nutrition journal homepage: www.nutritionjrnl.com Nutrition 27 (2011) 967–972