Rhubarb (Rheum tanguticum; da-huang in Chinese medicine) is a herbal medicine that has been used widely for managing fever and removing toxicity. In this study, we investigated how rhubarb inhibits influenza virus during the early stage of the infectious cycle using different functional assays. A non-toxic ethanolic extract of rhubarb (Rex) inhibited several H1N1 subtypes of influenza A viruses...

Inflammatory bowel diseases (IBDs) are chronic inflammatory intestinal disorders that are characterized by thickened colon walls, colon ulcerations, including two forms of ulcerative colitis (UC) and Crohn's disease (CD). UC and CD share some similar clinico-pathological characteristics but their causes are opposite. The imbalance in cytokinesis produced by Th1 and Th2 cells, the subunit of CD4...

BACKGROUND Physcion is an anthraquinone from rhubarb (rhizomes of Rheum tanguticum) and has been reported to have anti-inflammatory, hepatoprotective, antifungal, and anti-cancer activities. However, the growth inhibitory activity against human cancer cells and the underlying molecular mechanisms have been poorly determined. This study was designed to investigate the anti-proliferative activity...

s and/or oral presentations presented at American College of Rheumatology (ACR) 2010, 2011 and 2012: 1. Pickens SR, Volin MV, Mandelin II AM, Shahrara S. Local expression of IL-27 ameliorate collagen induced arthritis. Arthritis Rheum 714: S298, 2010. Oral presentation 2. Pickens SR, Volin MV, Pope RM, Mandelin II AM, Shahrara S. Characterization of CCR7 and its ligands CCL19 and CCL21 in rheum...