Protective effects of pentadecapeptide derived from Cyclaina sinensis against cyclophosphamide-induced hepatotoxicity.

Our study was aimed at investigating the hepatoprotective effects of pentadecapeptide (RVAPEEHPVEGRYLV) from Cyclaina sinensis (SCSP) against cyclophosphamide (CTX)-induced hepatotoxicity in mice. Our results show that SCSP can significantly alleviate CTX-induced hepatotoxicity by decreasing the levels of alanine aminotransferase (ALT), aspartate aminotransferase (AST), triglyceride (TG) and malondialdehyde (MDA), and increasing the levels of superoxide dismutase (SOD), glutathione peroxidase (GSH-Px), catalase (CAT) in the liver. In addition, the levels of interleukin (IL)-1β, IL-6, and tumor necrosis factor-α (TNF-α) were also significantly decreased in the liver tissues when treated with SCSP. Moreover, the protein levels of the toll-like receptor 4 (TLR4)-mediated nuclear factor-kappa B (NF-κB) pathway and apoptosis-related proteins were also restored by SCSP treatment. Overall, our results suggest that SCSP can potentially improve the CTX-induced hepatotoxicity.