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Hyaluronic Acid May Be Effective as a Potential Treatment for Interstitial Cystitis
Rooney P, Srivastava A, Watson L, Quinlan LR, Pandit A3. Hyaluronic acid decreases IL-6 and IL-8 secretion and permeability in an inflammatory model of interstitial cystitis.
Acta Biomater. 2015 Jun;19:66-75. doi: 10.1016/j.actbio.2015.02.030. Epub 2015 Mar 26.
In patients with interstitial cystitis (IC), treatment with hyaluronic acid is able to replenish the glycosaminoglycan (GAG) layer, a barrier layer on the inner surface of the bladder. Loss of the GAG layer results in increased permeability of the bladder wall, which can lead to pain and urinary dysfunction in patients with IC. To explore the mechanism of action of hyaluronic acid in this setting, investigators in this study first induced IC in cells from the urothelium, or the tissue that lines the urinary tract. Among their findings: applying hyaluronic acid to those cells leads to a significant decrease in secretion of IL-6 and IL-8, two small proteins known as cytokines that play a role in inflammation. This and other findings reported here provide further insights into how hyaluronic acid works to replenish the GAG layer in IC patients.